I'm puzzled as to why the Times wasn't clearer on that score. It looks like the started the paragraph that way, but punted at the last minute.
Given that Japanese were the largest nationality group in Hawaii for a time, being Japanese-Hawaiian wouldn't necessarily have made Kakugawa an outsider, even at a swanky school like Punahou.
More here, from way back in '08. Whoever wrote Obama's memoir fictionalized Keith Kakugawa as "Ray," an angry young Black man (assuming Keith's right) and said they had angry conversations about race. Kakugawa said they weren't that into the whole race thing.
“Given that Japanese were the largest nationality group in Hawaii for a time, being Japanese-Hawaiian wouldn’t necessarily have made Kakugawa an outsider, even at a swanky school like Punahou.”
I’m aware of that-—my daughter-in-law is Japanese-Hawaiian,but I was not aware that Kakugawa had a black mother.
I would love to get the “dirt” on The One but I’m afraid that won’t happen in my lifetime.
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