Obama Recounts Breaking Classmate’s Nose Over Racial Slur: ‘I Popped Him in the Face’
Former President Barack Obama (D) says he broke a classmate’s nose for calling him a racial slur. In an episode of his new podcast with singer Bruce Springsteen called “Renegades: Born in the USA,” Obama shared the…
Former President Barack Obama (D) says he broke a classmate’s nose for calling him a racial slur.
In an episode of his new podcast with singer Bruce Springsteen called “Renegades: Born in the USA,” Obama shared the story. He said, “Listen, when I was in school, I had a friend. We played basketball together.”
“And one time we got into a fight, and he called me a c**n,” he continued. “Now, first of all, ain’t no c**ns in Hawaii, right?”
Obama suggested that “he might not even known what a c**n was.” But, he said, “What he knew was, ‘I can hurt you by saying this.”
“And I remember I popped him in the face and broke his nose and we were in the locker room.”
The former president said, “I explained to him… I said, ‘Don’t you ever call me something like that.'”
Listen to the podcast below (beginning at 28:40)
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He went on to say that person’s decision to use a racial slur stems from “an assertion of status over the other.”
“The claim is made that no matter what I am… I may be poor. I may be ignorant. I may be mean. I may be ugly. I may not like myself. I may be unhappy. But you know what I’m not? I’m not you.”
Obama argued, “That basic psychology that then gets institutionalized, is used to justify dehumanizing somebody.”