An old video about President Obama’s family history and relationship with his in-laws is resurfacing to put the country’s first black president’s obsession with race relations into proper perspective.
Perhaps most revealing, the first lady’s mother discusses her family’s initial concerns with Barack Obama’s mixed race and unusual upbringing, 100PercentFedUp.com reports.
In the video that most recently aired on Chicago Tonight – the city’s PBS affiliate – in March, 2015, Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, talked about her first impressions of Barack Obama and his mixed race heritage.
“That didn’t concern me as much as had he been completely white,” Robinson said with a wide grin. “I guess I worry about races mixing because of the difficulty, not so much for the presidency, it’s just very hard.”
The 2004 video also delves into the president’s life growing up with his grandparents in Hawaii, where he was enrolled in a privileged and predominantly white school reserved for the children of wealthy plantation owners, businessmen and politicians.
It quotes from Obama’s book “Dreams from My Father:”
“I was engaged in a fitful interior struggle. I was trying to raise myself to be a black man in America, and beyond the given of my appearance no one around me seemed to know exactly what that meant.”
Obama’s great uncle told PBS he wasn’t surprised Obama grew up with race identity issues.
“He wasn’t raised black, because he was raised in a white family and raised as if he were a white boy,” he said, “and I’m sure that caused all kinds of conflicts in his mind.”
The president’s friends at his elite school, known as Panahou, contend Obama’s social status was more of a factor than his race. Keith Kakugawa – who is black and Japanese – said he discussed race with the future president, but it wasn’t a big issue at the school.
“Because we knew once we left that school, there was a target on our backs,” he said. “No matter what race you are, you’re Panahou. You’re the rich, white kids. Period.”
Obama, however, denied his upbringing.
“Were you essentially raised, though, as a white child?” the PBS reporter questioned.
“No, I don’t think so,” Obama replied. “I was raised as an Indonesian child, and as a Hawaiian child, and as a black and white child. And, so I think part of what I benefit from is a multiplicity of cultures that all fed me.”
The documentary goes on to describe how Obama first attended the mostly white Occidental College in Los Angeles before seeking out a more black experience at Columbia University in New York City, where he transitioned from “Barry” to “Barack.”
It wasn’t until Obama moved to Chicago after graduation that he began to fully immerse himself in black culture as a community organizer and lawyer, according to the 2015 video.
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