Making Barack Obama: Made in Hawaii

[Music] I love a happy Friday welcome back my baby and today we're gonna talk about a film that has been trying to be made for a long time and it's the subject is Barack Obama and this week I just really felt a need to talk about Barack we shared that Punahou campus for a couple of years he was a sophomore when I was a junior when I was an incoming freshman and the picture behind us is of the Punahou campus and it's just this is a film about his roots and how Hawaii influenced him and this week is has been a very emotional week and Gloria borlon who has been working on this film with extraordinary dedication for a very long time thank you for coming to to talk about the film where it is and tell us a little about the the horrible story that that what happened as you were trying to get the momentum build and and somebody said they didn't want you to make it what happened well first of all I'm from Hawaii and I was raised here and went to college in Washington DC and then was involved in media in Washington and while Obama was going through the primary when he was running starting to rent it for the presidency people always especially the press and the media and my colleagues there they always assumed that he was they liked him they didn't understand him he was supposed to be the angry black man from Chicago and I said no he's from Hawaii and that's not the stereotype you know and and they didn't understand Hawaii cuz most of most people especially the professionals are on the East Coast have never been to Hawaii they don't know Hawaii they only know Hawaii from the stereotypes and so friends told me to set the record straight explain Obama's biography and Hawaii in the context of that and I was uniquely able to do that because I grew up here I'm five years older than Barack so the same 60s and 70s that that period of Hawaii I'm also hot but you know half black half Japanese so I understand how but when you go to the mainland for college in the shock that you know how your how your seeing that way but as as you know producing a documentary film the research was years in the making and and to have a quality that we want for a theatrical release you know requires funding and I was a funder fund raising in Washington DC I always kept getting roblox you know I would raise some funds and then robots and then the Washington Post did a story on my efforts and I was surprised to find out which was great publicity and that was picked up all over because that's the print that the editors of the Washington Post said that they research and the information in this film was something they never knew they didn't think after they saw what we had and they saw my work in progress he said oh yeah now it makes sense you know the Aloha spirit is in him we see that you know we see how his values there no bomb Oh drama that's just the way people here behave they don't scream and yell at each other you know so that's so they started to understand that but then I also got feedback after the Washington Post article that the Chicago political operatives have for years been trying to squash me you know they didn't want the Hawaii story out because professionally they branded Obama as Chicago and they didn't want anything to interfere with that brand and and including Hawaii you know they put Hawaii on the same level as too exotic to non-american Oh Cokie Roberts just a couple of years ago right you know why is he going why isn't he going to Myrtle Beach right right well and that's where middle-class blacks would go to on vacation is Myrtle Beach I only wanted to play wanted to pigeonhole them that way but they didn't understand that this is where he grew up this is where his family is and in I'll you know I did the same thing you know even though your way from and Colin Carla in college on the mainland you come home every Christmas to see your family and he's been doing that for since you know he left for college but even when they lived in Indonesia they would come home for Christmas to Hawaii to visit their grandparents so Hawaii's home but that message was never told to the American public and the press never understood that and somebody got upset about it because you were doing such a good job yeah well they you know one thing about political operatives um they didn't I don't even think they saw what I did they just made the decision Hawaii maybe it's part of our multi millions of dollars worth of Hawaii advertising right you know we're exotic we're this we're we're off the beaten path you know you you want to come to Hawaii escape we're not and so the stereotype is Hawaii is not part of America and even the best and the brightest in Washington DC you wouldn't believe how many members of Congress have never been to Hawaii you know and we suffer the stereotypes do you live in grass shacks you know they don't and they don't realize that we are progressive equally in spite of HTA and magnum p.i and Hawaii five-o and yeah it's it's bizarre right and they don't and also when they were building the light bidding for the library remember one of the somebody from Chicago a historian said you know scholarly work needs to be in Chicago Hawaii they don't do scholarly work in Hawaii you know the stereotype we're a bunch of beach bums so they don't see that their great big thought leaders from Hawaii and so when the film we also mentioned you know great of we explained through Obama's biography Hawaii's history - you know from statehood to being the first to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment we had the first nearest closest universal health care was from Hawaii and Obama was Obama was thirteen and that's where health care comes from but in on the mainland they don't get it and the people that put the health care plan together they didn't even look at Hawaii they looked at Massachusetts because Massachusetts told the world that they were the first stage which was not true that was that was a lie oh he was so it's just it's a lot of steers and the miss mess the mission of this film is to change the stereotypes that the president feels and still receives as well as Hawaii let's let's watch a clip you have some lovely montage of images that come in in the at the at the end is the closing montage [Music] Oh No [Music] make [Music] No [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh boy yeah thank you for such little sweet sweet sweet little trip down memory lane oh so poignant today today the day that Obamacare has been undone it was a very very first step of we sending anyway okay so um it's it's it's a hard thing to to digest all of this so now that now that there isn't the political pressure against you telling the story do you think um it'll be it'll be possible to sort of bring this to fruition a little easier well I that's one of the reasons why I moved back home two years ago is that I wanted to finish it here because I knew that I would be able to get the support and funding to finish the film here in Hawaii and it's difficult in Washington when people haven't been to Hawaii and and they're also you know focused on the Chicago story so we'll be finished here and and if you look at some of us some of the stills and I mean people don't realize that his grandfather Barack Obama's grandfathered grants was absolutely he was he only had a high school education but he was absolutely brilliant Maya told me that has her grant their grandfather had a repertoire of 3,000 jokes it was and when one thing I heard from interviewing Stan Lee's co-workers and friends is that he loved his grandson and he encouraged Barry over and over when you grow up you can meet President United States really yes yes when you're a little kid and you're growing up and your grandfather is telling you you can be President like States someday my gosh that has an impact on you so he was conditioned from his grandfather to be an optimist to be patriotic that he could do anything and over and over and over he can--he president I'd stay now Stanley when he was working for an insurance company John Hancock not on Fort Street Mall his co-workers remember at least four times at least four times he would go into the office and say my grandson is brilliant and he's got such a heart great heart he could be Prezi nine states someday at least four times to his coworkers so when you have that since you're really little that says a lot and then we have a picture of the just to kind of put things in perspective again of the the the disconnect and we seem so connected these days but are we really that that the whole birther thing that somehow it managed to go all the way through eight years of a presidency and people kind of finally it became just a joke but that it had so much impact when it really was just a black and white thing I mean there are a lot of things that are but that is one that is I mean you have a picture of the woman who had she had twins yeah Eleanor Dyke I interviewed her in 2009 August 2009 and her twin daughters were born on this at the same hospital the Saints the same day they were about 24 hours apart from Barack Obama and so their the numerical sequence on the birth certificate of her twins were in the same order as Obama so it shows that it couldn't be forged because it was the new same numerical sequence and also her twin daughters ended up going to know a lotta elementary school as Barry and then also Punahou and their last name was Nordyke there her husband was a surgeon an ensign yeah and so and and then oh so Nordyke and Obama they were on the same yearbook ah yes yes oh my goodness so the the the way that the softness and the gentleness and the inclusivity all of those are things that we associate with Hawaii and yet Berry was Barack was able to translate that successfully into this this beautiful presidency even if and it's really really true that I did not always agree with his policies certainly not but especially is as they have transitioned out of the White House to see the beauty and grace and the gratitude and just the graciousness with which the Obamas are are leaving it is is such a credit to Hawaii and I'm hoping that your work will will will give Hawaii its do in in that sense and I also felt that it was part of my kuleana no matter what the obstacles were even when the Chicago guys said they didn't want to story out you know it was shocking it was hurtful but I said I gotta keep going because I have got to tell the white story that's my loyalty it's my kuleana but um how he behaved himself as president it was over and over they lost it it was a low head to everybody and Governor Mike Dukakis who ran for president in 1988 came to Hawaii for several months and he studied our health care system and he even says that I interviewed him in Boston and on 2014 he said oh the way the president governs is Aloha so he said that he validated it Gloria we're gonna take a short break and then be back and talk some more okay I'm here with Brent obokata the Faculty of the School of Journalism and the department of communications at UAH Manoa we've had a number of shows we have a moveable feast going on and we talked about journals and we talked about language you talk about communication in general and we talk about the effect of that on the country and on individual people bread it's so good to be able to discuss this with you in our moveable feast oh it's my pleasure this is a great opportunity you'll have to come back again and again okay deal that's the deal Fred oh poor guy I'm Jeff I do we care about everything thanks Aloha kako I'm Marsha Joyner and I'm inviting you to navigate the journey we are discussing the end of life options and we would really love to have you every Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. right here hey has your signal just been taken over or am I supposed to be here this is Android the security guy your co-host on hibachi talk please join us every Friday I'm think tech away welcome back to Hawaii is my mainland I'm Kelly Lucas and with me here today is Oriya Borland who's the director producer everything this is your brainchild Gloria the Barack Obama made in Hawaii film so well let's let's dive in take a little history of Barack starting with his his mother and tell us tell us a what are your favorite mom stories what I was really impressed cuz this again it's a stereotype during the campaign in 2008 the press falsely portrayed his mother as a hippie dippie you know and and and my research it was it was extraordinary to find out that she was a brilliant scholar first of all she's she was only born in Kansas she was really raised in Seattle so she really is from the Pacific Northwest and her values come from Seattle in the Pacific Northwest not Kansas she was a smartest girl at Mercer High School Mercer Island High School and she was absolutely brilliant extraordinarily high IQ and she was you know like she did microloans and back she was a trailblazer in that and finding the ability to be able to give loans to poor village people Muhammad Yunus got the Nobel Peace Prize for giving doing microphones in Bangladesh Obama's mother was doing the same thing at the same time in Indonesia but never got the publicity or the credit same thing same kind of trailblazing work and that's his mother absolutely brilliant so how long did they live in Indonesia well he was only there for a little over three years and he would come home to Hawaii to see his grandparents for the Christmas holidays and also when and during the summer but his his key his major influence you know 14 15 years was in Hawaii out of his first date 18 was Hawaii and no one knows that on the mainland although historians they all focus on Indonesia or Chicago what age was he in Indonesia he went in first grade and second grade but he was back here in Hawaii in third grade at Noelani and then and then fourth grade and then he took the exams to come to Punahou at fourth grade and we had a have a darling picture of him at new Lani as a microrna gardener oh how cute and you look at that class and you just think look at that smile I mean you just know that things are gonna be good for this kid standing behind him or his two teachers and I interviewed them in 2010 they've retired from the Hawaii Public School System in Maui and they remember little berry in their kid in garden class and he's they they talk about his personality it was still the same how he behaved in kindergarten is how he is as president well I didn't personally know him although I mean I didn't you know we didn't hang out together or anything I mean he was intemperate classmen so but I of course knew him just his presence on on campus as he went bopping around and his smile I mean who cannot forget I mean who can not remember that smile and just just being having that incredible energy I mean being energetic yeah amazing amazing so um I didn't know until learning about your film that he that he had a half-brother who lives in Asia and you were able to talk to him right mark Obama they shared the same father the same Kenyan father and they had they both have white American mothers so when when Obama's senior went after he left Hawaii and God his degree at University of Hawaii now the Press reports say that he left it to he really left when Barry was not even one and went to Boston went to Harvard and while he was a Harvard he net marks mother she's I looked away knee in Jew and was studying to be a teacher and so that's and so he married her after he had a lot of women but anyway he married and so so mark and David were born from from that relationship and so mark is five years younger than Barry Obama and he there a lot there it's similar although they weren't raised together they're similar in many ways intellectually well when Barack was going off to Harvard Law School Mark was going to Stanford and there was a little rivalry between the two people and but mark went to China and fell in love with the place in the culture and he's been there for 14 15 years and he's married to a woman from China from Shenzhen so I went and visited him in March and indeed him about their father because he's a mystery and there's a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about who their father really was so I who better that to give testimony van the son mark Obama who actually lived so did Mark oh yeah Mark lived with the father for for a long time well up until um eight or nine years old and then his parents divorce there was domestic violence once in that family and so heat in the interview he talks about you know the trauma of domestic violence and that who and Barack was sheltered from that he was not exposed to domestic violence so in a way Barack's personality was able to evolve and grow in a nurturing loving environment with his mother and grandparents in Hawaii and not in that dysfunctional crazy you know alcoholic domestic violence but that's the reality that's the truth that's the history so and were you able to so you talked and in the film you'll have the interviews with with mark oh yes mark was freely and open and talked to I imagined all that so we also have a wonderful picture from his sister speaking of siblings wedding and there's I I love this because you you get it's like the UN a whole in one picture and all in one family right when my this is when Maya married Conrad and Conrad's from Chinese family from Canada and this is what the story came from neil abercrombie who knew obama's parents at you h so Neil was in the wedding reception audience and Barak and and his wife Michelle and daughters flew in from Chicago to give my away he spoke on behalf of Maya's family at the wedding reception and while he was speaking neil abercrombie looked over to his wife and said oh my god he's gonna be president i'd state sunday it's struck neil that this berry was gonna be was gonna be President someday and this is when he was still a state senator Gaetz senator right I even started and so right so he just knew intuition wise when when when Barack spoke about family he spoke about ohon it exactly the same thing he said during the campaign trail in 2008 the exact same thing and that's what touched everybody all across the United States all across the world when he talked about the goodness in people and you know that there's hope and that we all can come together and our better days are ahead of us those are all values from Hawaii and that's how that's how he speaks and it's not prepared it's not speech writing it comes from his heart and that's why people that's why 69 million Americans voted for Obama twice because of that message that message so I assume that Barack knows that you are making this film I don't think so really no he's gonna he's in a bubble when you're the president states information only gets to you through the chief of staff and your that's Washington I mean it's amazing nothing it's they control but his sister knows yes she are you know if you'd her several times and but write it and so she I'm really grateful that she that I was able to interview her the Dunham's side of the family but it's he's stealing was two wars because there's it's very very hard it's no I I don't think you know so what what are your plans for the movie at this point well I've found a wonderful production company here in Hawaii this they're seasoned pros they just finished a a documentary that aired on Hawaii news now they're really great and so we're in the process of racing finishing funds and with their post-production team we're gonna complete it to finish the editing and there's some of the interviews that we did in 2008 when it was the technology with standard-definition or not high-definition so we're gonna reduce some of those those interviews we shoot some of those but it'll be top-notch film that could be shown on any place in the world Wow that's what that's our goal yeah and then in our last minute here Gloria and what what can you say is maybe one of your your most touching moments in the process of making this film out of the I interviewed over a thousand people oh my god um over the last eight years over a thousand people I would fifty one on camera 51 on camera and about five if emotionally broke down and cried when they opened their hearts you know and that was just so powerful when they were talking about their experiences with Barry or Barack I mean and they just broke down and cried and it was so emotionally touching and and and the matches that Hawaii you know Hawaii is the most I've been I've traveled around the world I've been to 70 countries you know too bad Kenya I've been all over the world um what brought me back home to Hawaii is Hawaii is still the best place in the world and our culture and how we treat people is a story that needs to be told and in this Trump era where everyone's afraid of you know all the people that don't look like them you know and the Caucasians are afraid and you know let them see Hawaii and see how we get along and but we have something special we've had we've been doing this for like hundreds of years this is unique and that story of Hawaii needs to go out to the world that we lead in renewable energies we have really in minds that have come up with technology we it's not just we have great yet we have core it's not just a beach we're at this culture and where everyone comes together really is a catalyst for great things thank you [Music]

Channel: ThinkTech Hawaii

Views: 11,311

Keywords: Think Tech Hawaii, Tech, Energy, Globalization, Diversification, Economy, Hawaii, popular, Gloria Borland, Obama Farewell, Barack Obama: Made in Hawai'i, Barack Obama, Democratic National Committee, DNC, documentary film, Made in Hawaii, Obama, filmmaking, history, Kaui Lucas, Obama Hawaii, birther, Obama Chicago, childhood

Id: VJYxWDWapeg

Length: 28min 37sec (1717 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 14 2017