As has been mentioned many times, Obama was close to his grandparents (including grandpa Stanley Dunham), who raised him from the age of ten and, with the help of scholarships, had him educated at the prestigious Punahou School. Obama has said she "poured everything she had into me."
She died on very early this morning (November 3) of cancer in the same high-rise apartment where she lived with young "Barry" and his sister. Stanley Dunham died in 1992.
Barack Obama called his grandmother "Toot," which is short for tutu, the local Hawaiian word for grandmother. "Toot" had lived in Hawaii for almost half a century, after coming here in 1959.
Obama once referenced her in his now famous speech on race (which I should blog, because I thought it was brilliant and I believe people of every political stripe should sit down and listen to it). He admitted that his grandmother harbored views that he disliked, but that was not the sum or the essence of their relationship.
In relation to the speech, he also referred to her—critically but not disparagingly—as a "typical White woman," although I don't know how typical any White person can be in Hawaii, where everyone is quite conscious of the fact that Whites are a (privileged) minority. Frankly, having both White and Asian relatives, I've seen at work the very thing he was saying he saw with his grandmother, and I think the way he thinks and talks about it is right on the money.
Senator Obama's mother Ann, his grandfather Stanley, and his grandmother Madelyn.
I like the above picture, in part because Grandpa Stanley appears to have the same shaped head that Barack Obama later inherited.
This is a nice picture, too. It was taken in the late 1940s on the front porch of Madelyn Dunham's Augusta, Kansas, home.
This is a nice picture, too. It was taken in the late 1940s on the front porch of Madelyn Dunham's Augusta, Kansas, home.
"Toot" is at right, leaning against the porch. Obama's mother Ann is sitting in the middle. To the left is Leona Payne, Toot's mother and Obama's great grandmother. On the other side of Ann is Ruth McCurry, Toot's aunt and Obama's great great aunt.
This is part of Obama's heritage at least as much as him being of African descent. Outwardly he looks Black, thus so many people just treat him as Black, barely acknowledging his mixed heritage and effectively denying his Whiteness. Are we the cultural background in which we grew up or are we what others perceive us as being? The answer may be both, and perhaps it's not something we ourselves own, at least not in practice.
I remember receiving a link to some right-leaning, pro-GOP "news" website which was about the "scandal" that Obama was trying to hide his White roots. The idea, as it were, was that Obama was banking on taking advantage of being "the Black candidate," so it would undermine that image if his White grandmother were to show up on the campaign trail. Preposterous, but it was just part of a stream of fantastical mud the other side threw around in the hopes that something would stick.
It is absolutely ridiculous how these things play out. It's sad that race is still such a big issue in our nation. There are some people who fear the Bradley Effect may come into play, but I hope that by now the American people have seen enough of Barack Obama to see him as the person he is and not the race(s) he is.
The only thing I will say about race and Obama is that an Obama win tomorrow would mean that America has come along way. But you know what, even if he loses, I think America has come just as far: for almost all Americans who will have voted by tomorrow night, the decision to pick Obama or McCain had nothing to do with Obama being Black.
But back to "Toot." I think that if her grandson wins tomorrow, it's sad that she will have missed that glorious day, but the polls probably gave her confidence that this would come to be. And the bittersweet news is that, though she has passed away, she was able to cast a vote for grandson by absentee ballot. (Will right-wing wags distort this as the dead voting for Chicago politicians?)
She saw her grandson just a short while ago, and her granddaughter, Maya Soetoro-Ng, lives nearby and was with her in her final days and hours. It is my hope that she died happy and peaceful, full of knowledge of what wonderful people have followed her.
Madelyn "Toot" Dunham, requiescat in pace.
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