tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194Fri, 30 Aug 2024 09:02:28 +0000Or how I grew up a non-African in Hawaii.http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)Blogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-6758630154550820230Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:47:00 +00002009-06-23T03:59:18.041+01:00Chapter FourThe following are the facts from the years 1975-1977 as I recall them.Keith Kakugawa (Ray) was two classes ahead of Barry Obama. Keith entered Punahou in the 10th grade. His younger brother Kent entered the same year as a 9th grader. Barry had entered Punahou in 5th grade.At that time Punahou had a policy that required holding all boys born after June 30th back a year. I was and many http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/12/dreams-descrepancies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-2128201032791264512Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:28:00 +00002008-12-25T07:08:43.890+00:00I recently learned that the history of African-Americans in Hawaii is long and distinguished. African sailors visited the islands as early as circa 1776 and some made Hawaii their home as early as 1794.One sailor was Anthony D. Allen originally from Schenectady, New York. He settled in Honolulu in 1810 before the first missionaries from New England arrived. Being one of a handful of http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/12/anthony-d-allen.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-5621297907207211991Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:48:00 +00002008-12-15T16:50:38.068+00:00Being isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, life in Hawaii evolved unlike anywhere else. Just as Darwin studied how the isolation of the Galapagos Islands transformed species in unique ways, we should be able to observe how the isolation of Hawaii transformed its peoples in unique ways as well.My thinking is that over the last 175 years race relations in Hawaii evolved more quickly and http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/racial-galapagos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-8612429367605395908Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:50:00 +00002008-12-04T19:40:09.201+00:00In my childhood neighborhood many of my friends and their brothers and sisters when to public schools. One day when I was eight or nine they mentioned that "Kill Haole Day" was coming up. That didn't sound very good for someone like me.They said it was something that happened on the last day at their school. The local Hawaiian kids would seek out and beat up the Caucasian kids, usually in a http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/kill-haole-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-5423078850829337306Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:17:00 +00002009-07-19T06:37:48.668+01:00One thing I clearly remember when I was seven or eight years old was that I picked up Hawaiian slang or "pidgin" English pretty fast. At that age it wasn't a even a conscious choice, it was a response driven by fear. With my blond hair, skinny legs, and stubbed toes I was a pretty self-conscious haole boy. The local Hawaiian kids, or mokes, always appeared cocksure and ready to beef. After all, http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/adapt-or-die.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-1825361697655674168Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:23:00 +00002009-07-19T06:53:50.909+01:00After Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President, his name came up more often in my conversations with my mother. Now that he was in the spotlight, so were all the places he'd been and the people that he'd known. Many of them are my old Punahou classmates, teachers, and coaches. They add to my two degrees of Barack Obama.One evening at my last Punahou reunion, Keith Kakugawa's name came http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/ray.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587939401096200194.post-3662232661318838615Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:50:00 +00002008-11-24T21:31:02.004+00:00I just finished reading (most of) Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father" and it really struck a cord with me personally. It stirred in me feelings that I hadn't given much attention to in over twenty five years. So I felt compelled to to explore them here, maybe explore them with other people like me, those with two degrees of separation of Barack Obama.Although I'm not a half-blooded http://2degreesofbarackobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/okay-here-we-go.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (TwoDegrees)1