I asked Chip to take us back to 1960.http://blog.seattlepi.com/capitolhill/2012/05/30/capitol-hills-chip-wall-remembers-obamas-mother/
Mercer Island was a small community that had gravel roads and wells. In 1954 Chip Wall moved to Mercer Island and from 7th grade on till graduation Chip shared the same apartment area with Stanley Ann Dunham where they often walked to school together. Chip knew her briefly and they ran in the same circles and occasionally went to Encore cafe near the University of Washington where they would talk about new ideas and were very aware of injustices. Chip remarks that Stanley Ann could be challenging and she didn’t like phonies. Chip Wall remarks “She was about as Independent of a woman as you could get at the age of 17″.Chip explained at the time, girls couldn’t wear pants. Girls didn’t take PE (Physical Education) and there were no sports teams for girls. But this was a community where 95% were expected to go on to college. There were a handful of progressive active thinkers. They studied classics, free discussion, history, politics and religion and science and more. I wonder if it was this open way of education and the restrictive climate that first instilled in Stanley Ann her passionate drive.
Birthers
I asked Chip what he thought of “Birthers” and he shakes his head. “They have no logical or factual basis and they are fabricating claims out of smoke and air.”