Posted on: Sunday, August 1, 2004

By Jerry Burris

For Hawai'i, a clear highlight of the just-completed Democratic National Convention was the keynote address by Island-born Barak Obama, now a rising star in national politics.

Obama electrified the convention and did himself, his party and his family proud.

But unless you were watching and listening very carefully, Obama's Hawai'i connection was all but invisible.

He briefly mentioned his family's move to Hawai'i in the remarks he delivered to a chanting audience in Boston's FleetCenter.

But even that passing reference was not included in the formal text of his remarks.

The "compelling" personal narrative that Obama and the Democrats chose to present in Boston was not the Hawai'i experience. Rather, it was the work of this smart young black American within the inner cities of America they sought to highlight.

Obama was portrayed as a bridge-builder, a person who transcends the barriers of race and class that separate so much of America.

In essence, we were asked to see him as someone who overcame the political and social barriers that hold so many back.

Here's how Salim Muwakkil, senior editor of In These Times magazine and a contributing writer to the Chicago Tribune, described Obama in an enthusiastic post-convention article written for the Progressive Media Project:

"Obama emerged out of Chicago's boisterous mix of black and progressive politics, and there is little doubt that he will make history as just the third black U.S. senator since Reconstruction. He is well educated, with degrees from Columbia University and Harvard — where he graduated magna cum laude and served as the first black American president of the Harvard Law Review.

"From there, he set out for Chicago, where he directed a voter-registration and education project in Cook County instead of joining one of the many corporate law firms that lavishly wooed the Harvard grad.

"Obama began reconciling his hybrid heritage with American realities and found a sense of belonging within the city's black community."

Nary a Hawai'i to be seen.

Politically, focusing on Obama's Mainland, inner-city, bridge-building and race-reconciling efforts makes perfect sense. His narrative fits well with the narrative of the entire Democratic convention. And it is a compelling one.

But it's a shame that his experience growing up in multi-cultural, multi-ethnic Hawai'i could not have been a larger part of the story.

Hawai'i has something to teach the rest of the nation about race, culture and inclusiveness, particularly in a political context. It's impossible to think that the approach Obama takes now in his work on the Mainland was not formed, in good measure, by his experiences on the playgrounds, classrooms and beaches of his Island home.

It's a good story, and it is one the nation has yet to hear.

Jerry Burris is editor of The Advertiser's editorial pages.