Obama's Brand of Empathy - Does it include haoles like his grandmother?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Obama's tutu a Hawaii banking female pioneer

By Dan Nakaso

The white grandmother of Barack Obama blazed a trail for women in Honolulu's banking circles in the 1960s and 1970s as her grandson grew up surrounded by racial insensitivity.

Sam Slom was a Bank of Hawaii economist at the time and was married to a Korean-Chinese woman. Slom remembers looking at housing ads that openly expressed racial preferences.

The landlords' ads read, "'No haoles,' or 'AJAs (Americans of Japanese ancestry) Only,' or 'No Japanese,'" Slom said.

"That's the way it was," said Slom, who is now a Republican state senator representing Kahala and Hawai'i Kai. "Did people talk about race? We had local jokes ... like that 'pake' (Chinese) guy or the 'yobo' (Korean) who did this or that. I certainly got my share of haole jokes. But I never heard Madelyn say anything disparaging about people of African ancestry or Asian ancestry or anybody's ancestry."

In his speech, Obama linked Wright and Dunham when he said, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Seems odd that a white racist would live in Hawaii.

Obama made a similar reference to Dunham in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father," in which he recalled an argument when he was in high school at Punahou School between Dunham and her husband, Obama's grandfather, Stanley Dunham.

Dunham rode a bus to get to her bank job, and one day had been approached by a man who pressured her for money.

"I gave him a dollar and he kept asking," Obama quoted his grandmother in the book. "If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

Obama referred to his grandmother as "Toot" — short for "tutu," the local word for grandparent. He wrote that he offered to drive her to the bank, telling his grandfather, "It's really no big deal."

"It's a big deal to me," Stanley told his grandson. "She's been bothered by men before. You know why she's so scared this time? ... (S)he told me the fella was black."

Obama then wrote, "The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure. In my steadiest voice, I told him that such an attitude bothered me, too, but assured him that Toot's fears would pass and that we should give her a ride in the meantime."

Why should anyone have to face a daily ritual of harrassment at the bus stop?  Should all older people be afraid of the bus stop?  Should all people with or without color, and shades in between be afraid of the bus stop? 

Is empathy only for those of color?

Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, declined last week to comment on Obama's speech about Wright or his reference to their grandmother — or their grandmother's attitude on race.

"I was real surprised that he indicated that," said Dennis Ching, who was a 23-year-old management trainee under Dunham beginning in 1966. "I never heard her say anything like that. I never heard her say anything negative about anything. And she never swore."

Any living witnesses other than Barack?

While then-No. 2 First Hawaiian Bank was considered the "local" bank for ethnic minorities at the time, Ching and others said Bankoh was "the haole bank."

In a roundabout way, Dunham revealed some of her own pressures, Ching said.

She spoke about the hard work of being a female aircraft worker during World War II — which was sandwiched between her education at the University of Washington and University of California-Berkeley.

Dunham never received a college degree and she often let Ching know it.

"She told me how during the war life was hard," Ching said. "She kept on telling me that she never graduated from college and I had graduated college. Yet she was a vice president and I was a trainee. ... She was a very strict manager. But she had a very soft heart. Her exterior didn't tell how soft her heart was."

The bank Dunham left behind remained sound during the mortgage crisis and financial meltdown. 

For much of post-World War II Hawai'i, people openly spoke and joked about race — just as they had on the sugar and pineapple plantations where each new wave of immigrant workers instantly became the latest butt of jokes, Slom said.

At the time Obama was growing up, Slom said, more overt racism thrived in the Islands at places like the Pacific Club, "which had a ban on Orientals."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20080330/NEWS01/106040003

The bank Madelyn Dunham retired from remains sound.

Today, the overt racism seems to be directed at non-minorities.  It must be the changing times...

We go from a varied kind of racism, to dreams of a better place for all people, to 'empathy' as a code word for racism that affects non-minorities.

It's not that they're AGAINST non-minorities, they just FOR everyone else.

It's Barack's special kind of empathy.

my opinions.

[WhiskeyGirl]

In another thread, someone asked me for a link about Barack's lack of empathy.  Is it lack of empathy, or a special kind of empathy, known only to Barack?

A Tree and Its Fruit

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. - Matthew 7:15-20

I have always been puzzled about Barack's relationship with his grandmother.  He includes a story about his grandmother, it's the OP of this thread.

In my experience, no parent or grandparent is perfect.  They are human beings.  They grow up with a richness of life experience that includes all kinds of racism, bias, and hatred.  Do they choose to pass on the negative?  Or, do they choose to find a better path for their children?

Look at the fruits of Madyln Dunham.  There are many (in that article) that were surprised to hear from her grandson that she was a racist.  She (and her family) lived in a culture that was prejudiced against many, including Caucasions and some Asians.  Did they ever hear her joke about race?  Laugh?  Use racist terms?

What is the fruit of her labor at the 'minority' bank she devoted her life to?  Is it failing?  Did it fall under the weight of bad mortgages and unsound practices?

From my reading, it remains an example of a well run institution.   It is good fruit.  It comes from a tree with many branches that bear GOOD fruit.

What of Barack?  What is his legacy?  He is associated with ACORN (and many affiliates).  ACORN has been linked to many voter irregularities and investigation about its practices.  Some, have questioned why such an organization was chosen to participate in the census. 

Others wonder where all the taxpayer and other money goes, and have called for ACORN and it's many associates to open the books.  There are calls for forensic accounting.  Where does all that taxpayer money go?

ACORN has also been linked to activism that seems to be linked to banks and mortgage companies that wrote many bad loans, engaged in bad practices that some feel may have helped the massive financial meltdown we are now experiencing. 

Does it matter if Barack is the fruit of ACORN?  Or, if ACORN is the fruit of Barack?  Is the fruit good?  Is it sound?  Is ACORN a good example of stewardship for those that have placed their trust and money in it's programs?

The fruit of Madelyn Dunham is sound.  Not sure where Barack comes from.

jmho = just my humble opinions

[WhiskeyGirl]

What of Barack and Rev. Wright? 

Rev. Wright regards Barack as 'my son'.  Is Barack the fruit of Rev. Wright and his "Black Value System"?

Does Barack promote equality for all people?  Or, just for some, on his list of inclusion (that doesn't seem to include non-minorities).

In Barack's speech, he links his grandmother and Rev. Wright. 

Madelyn Dunham worked for the greater good.  What does Rev. Wright work for?

Does Barack work for everyone? 

Does Barack work for special interest groups?  Does he work for everyone?

Who is Barack for?  Who does he leave out of his future plans for America?  Alternatively, does he just leave the others (those he is not 'FOR') to pay for his spending?