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Westboro Baptist Church Plans Protest at Obama's Grandmother's Funeral

by Rob Walker | November 6, 2008 at 12:35 pm

13932 views | 6 Recommendations | 72 comments

Barack Obama's Grandmother, who died just before she got to see her grandson become the first black president of the United States, will have a private burial, said the family earlier in the week.

The location and date of the funeral will likely go undisclosed.

That doesn't seem to stop the geniuses over at the Westboro Baptist church, famous for protesting at soldier's funerals, who have announced they will try to protest at Obama's grandmother's funeral as well.

I won't post the link to it since the whole thing stinks, but here's a quote from their release:

WBC to picket the funeral of Madelyn
Payne Dunham, - pursuant to the
picketing laws of Hawaii or Kansas or,
etc., wherever burial occurs, - in
religious protest and warning to the
living; to wit: "Prepare to meet thy God."

From Obama's statement last Sunday:

In a statement released by the Obama campaign yesterday, Obama and Soetoro-Ng said: "It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

Obama planned to stay in Chicago through the week, with a quiet weekend at home. He was still trying to work out funeral arrangements for his grandmother, who died Sunday. A trip to Hawaii for the small private memorial she requested was likely by the end of the year.

NowPublic's original story on her death from staffer Jarrett Martineau:

Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died of cancer at the age of 86 — one day before the historic U.S. election that could see her grandson become the first African-American President of the United States.

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Comment (not verified)

at 19:07 on November 6th, 2008

May she rest in peace, and he and the USA live in peace.

lainpa (not verified)

at 07:46 on November 7th, 2008

May she rest in peace. Does anyone else think that it is odd that the funeral will be held "likely by the end of the year."??? Are they keeping her on ice? Isn't this the woman that raised Obama since age 10? Seems a little cold to me, no pun intended.

Anawneemus (not verified)

at 10:47 on November 7th, 2008

There will be a private burial and the "memorial" will be held by the end of the year.

sraspain (not verified)

at 10:14 on November 10th, 2008

You need to read more carefully before you spew your judgmental idiocy...there is a difference between a funeral and a memorial service.

sooka (not verified)

at 22:15 on November 11th, 2008

she was the only blood relative alive that he shared a long period of his life with...she was probably like his mother... but he didn't attend her burial service? i'm sure his sister is disappointed, because she had to take care of all the events without her older brother. shame on obama!

wendy6119 (not verified)

at 22:39 on November 11th, 2008

Obama's mother was cremated and they spread her ashes into the ocean. Perhaps his grandmother's wishes were the same.

Gera Schmidt (not verified)

at 08:31 on November 20th, 2008

What is odd is EVERYTHING! No comments from his grandmother. No college records released. No facts as to the Saudi who paid for his college. No facts to his birth certificate.

This guy has so much money backing him, so much corruption.... well, it is the great American Con of the History of the World, and the Media is all in on it ... with pay offs to the top brass there. Americans- the End of Innocence.

BRAD421 (not verified)

at 12:29 on November 7th, 2008

The first mixed president not black.

black person (not verified)

at 16:41 on November 8th, 2008

mixed is mixed unless it is mixed with black, come on now, you should no that.

beyondhorizons (not verified)

at 10:24 on November 16th, 2008

Then why is there a word "mixed" or biracial?

Adanna (not verified)

at 10:11 on November 9th, 2008

Wow...now that he has accomplished the highest office in the land, suddenly he's "mixed" but if God forbid he gets caught up in some b.s. he will suddenly go back to being "black". Get over it...if you didnt know that his mother was white, if you saw him walking down the street, you would SEE a black man. That is how the world sees him, and more importantly, thats how he sees himself. Your ancestors invented the "one drop rule"...dont get mad now that it has worked in our favor...

concerned citizen (not verified)

at 10:29 on November 16th, 2008

I saw a black man walking down the street, struke up a conversation w/him, turned out he was Mexican. PPl from all races resemblel ppl from others. You can't claim a race b/c you look like it. The one-drop rule was started by white racists and essentially gives white parents the right to disown their own half-white children. Why r u perpetuating something like that? Obama doesn't have an itty-bit of white blood in him. He is the direct offspring of a white person. His genetic makeup is 50% european. He's not a black man. Get over it.

Charon (not verified)

at 23:58 on November 7th, 2008

Rock bottom... does the WBC even have a definition for that?

Pollynkorect (not verified)

at 11:21 on November 8th, 2008

Obviously Barack has better things to do than bury the white granny who raised him after his misogynous parents ditched him. Typical black ingrate. Just wait till we see how he treats the rest of us honkies, if this is how he repays his own grandmother. But, on second thought, maybe Barry really is an egalitarian. Just look how Mr. Spread-the-Wealth Messiah left his Kenyan half-brothers to live in squalid poverty. Oh well, like father, like son.

human (not verified)

at 17:55 on November 8th, 2008

Barack Obama met no harm to white people,nor is own granndmother, with the" typical white person" remark ,he was just speaking HIS truth, and we don't always want to HEAR the truth,even when we know it is.And if we truly don't, then maybe it is because we have not walked in that other persons shoes.If this was possible,we might understand each other better.Sometimes trying to imagine yourself as someone other then yourself ,helps you understand them and the things they may say a little better(if you dare to).From reading what you wrote, I can maybe imagine some of your negative experiences with black PEOPLE,and if this is so,then that is not typical of all, and also it is clear to everyone,I guess except you, that Barack Obama,is nothing like his father when it comes to parenting.

Wow2 (not verified)

at 19:01 on November 8th, 2008

These people need serious help. Some of the comments on this thing remind me more and more of how cruel and despicable some people really are. Seriously people...go see a counselor.

human (not verified)

at 18:00 on November 8th, 2008

P.S. no one says honkies, anymore.

OSU92 (not verified)

at 20:01 on November 8th, 2008

Hi Hater,

Its very unfortunate that Obama can not please everyone. Its funny the same people who complained about his leaving the campaign in August, with his family, called it a publicity stunt. When he left the campaign trail last week to see her, people just like you were outrage that he would leave in such a critical point in his campaign. Now you're complaining because he is not having the funeral in a timely matter SUITABLE TO YOU. Who the hell are you? You're not a relative or even invited! When did the Obama family need to check with you to find out when it will be suitable to have a funeral so that his family and her brother can come to Hawaii?

As far as leaving his GROWN brother, they met only twice at the age of 25. He is not responsible for another grown-ass man! They were not raised togehter. He is not responsible for all the children his father had with multiple wives. You know nothing of which you talk about. If you hit the lottery tomorrow...how many family members over 18 are you willing to support? Isn't that welfare? I don't believe from your post that you would be willing to give welfare to a half-brother, if you had one. If you did....then that makes you a Mr. Spread-the-Wealth Messiah. You can't have it both ways...expect him to not spread the wealth BUT take care of a grown man. His brother has to live by the choices he made.

Honkies? Is that what you consider yourself? Wow. What self-loathing. Barack is half-White, so am I to assume from your post he hates half of himself?

sgpa (not verified)

at 15:44 on November 10th, 2008

News flash -helping a family member is not welfare or spreading wealth. That is just what families do for each other because they care. BO doesn't want to spread his wealth or help his family, he just wants the "rich" to do it for him. Big difference!

Alfreda (not verified)

at 22:36 on November 10th, 2008

Since honkies was mentioned did anyone among us learn how the word honkies came to be? There was a time when a white man wanted to be with a black woman and it was not to be done in public. So he would arrange a time and come to her place and honk his horn. She would then have to come down stairs leaving her husband and children and go out for a rondevous with him. Of course HIS wife and children had no knowledge of it. No birth control did he use. When she became pregnant, no abortion. The mixed, colored, black, African-American child was born and the black husband had to raise the child as his own,(Thus the complexion from down through the years of many a mixed, colored, black, African-American knowing that his wife had done what she had to do. Therefore he had to do what he had to do because it would do him no good to try to bring it up with the husband of the woman whose house his wife cleaned and whose children she kept during the day. She would have to come home and wash and clean and cook and perform the womanly task of a married woman while she carried a baby for the honky. Therefore when that child was up a bit and she went back to work for that family. Honky would be there honking again for the weekly rondevous. NUF SAID!!!

In the case of President Elect Obama his parents were legally married. God Bless America

Jeremy Jenkins (not verified)

at 13:05 on November 8th, 2008

I just wanted to point out that most black people in this country are mixed raced. I define myself as black, even though I am Swedish, African, French Creole, Native American. I just have dark skin, so anyone looking at me would think I was black. So the man looks black.

Jardene (not verified)

at 15:53 on November 8th, 2008

I agree, most black people are mixed because the white slave owners raped the black female slaves producing mixed babies. That is why black people come in beautiful shades of brown. Some light, some medium and some dark..We are a beautiful race of people and we should be proud to be black americans...President Elect Barack Obama is of a mixed race, but society labels him as being black..As all of black americans are labeled...

Ellanne (not verified)

at 08:44 on November 20th, 2008

HUGE ERROR: The Pro-Abort Media is calling Barack Hussein Obama the FIRST African American President! He most certainly is NOT!!! He is bi-racial. He IS NOT African American, his FATHER, whom he NEVER KNEW is African American.

If BO had a Chinese father would the Pro-Abort Media call him the first CHINESE President?

If BO had a Japanese father would we call him the first Japanese American president?

Calling BO African American is the ULTIMATE RACIST--BIGOTRY - STATEMENT OF ALL!!!

OSU92 (not verified)

at 20:17 on November 8th, 2008

If the President-Elect was just Barry Dunham walking down the street and you knew nothing of his family or seen him...what race would he be to you?

Sometimes he refers to himself as Bi-racial because its less threatening to Whites. Other times he just says bump it, I'm black because my wavy hair, wide nose, dark lips, skin color speaks for itself to those who are not blind!

concerned citizen (not verified)

at 10:55 on November 16th, 2008

You're defining the same person two different ways. You call them black and mixed race. Which is it? Are hispanics, asians, or people from any other race that might look black now black? Just because you look black doesn't mean you are black. I'm sorry you allow society to label you based on looks. You discredit the other part of your heritage by referencing only one part of it. Why do you choose the black part? Is it more important than the other parts of you? Sweetie, you're all of your races. Not just one. Don't be like Obama. You need to become whole, not 1/4, not 1/2, but whole. Embrace and be proud of all of you.

NYCLady (not verified)

at 15:57 on November 17th, 2008

Concerned Citizen,

As someone wrote earlier, most "black" people in America are, in fact, mixed-race people. A good percentage of white folks are as well; even Bill Clinton claimed some Native American ancestry. Second, there are most certainly black Latinos and Hispanics-- in Cuba (ever hear of Afro-Cubans?), Honduras (Garifuna), The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and YES, in Mexico too. And in many other Latin American countries. African slaves were brought to all of these countries. There are more "black" people in Brazil than in the US...meaning people who would be considered "black" here. I too am a black woman with mixed (African, European, Anglo and Indigenous) ancestry. Some of us have more recent/direct European ancestors, like our new President. If one parent is "white" and one is "black" course you should acknowledge and claim that. But when you know that your light skin is the reult of your African ancestor being raped by her owner, that's not something to celebrate. Yes, if not for the widespread abuse of black women, many of us wouldn't exist, but most of us are still closely linked to the community that raised and nurtured black folks of all shades during and after slavery ....For some of us, the black community is the only place where we've found acceptance...a safe and welcoming place if you will. I take it for granted that African Americans are mixed race... But some of the most passionate advocates for multi-racial identity ignore this fact. So they say Obama is mixed race while dismissing Michelle as "just black", when in fact she probably has a goodly percentage of European and/or Native American ancestry as well.

Handsome (not verified)

at 14:34 on November 8th, 2008

First of all, you better thank your God and sunny Jesus I'm not Barack Obama or even related to him, because if any individual or group ever attempted to protest at one of my loved ones funeral, believe me when I tell you that my loved one wouldn't be the only life removed from this realm! Come on people! Anyone who even contemplates such a beyond childish, unsympathetic buffoonish act seriously needs to suck a d-i-c-k, eat an a-s-s or get a life! How low and pathetic can one get? And some people wonder why they & their immediate loved ones have nothing but bad luck in life and suffer in their years to come. You reap what you sow!

Mumfa (not verified)

at 21:16 on November 8th, 2008

Is everybody buying the dead grandmother line?

Honolulu Medical Examiner said, "We didn't work this case".

The only people to "announce" the death was the Obama campaign.

NO Obituary in any newspapers. NO funeral. NO services.

Obama is so COOL! He duh man! He can fool lots of fools.

OSU92 (not verified)

at 22:11 on November 8th, 2008

Obviously you get your Obama news from Rush Limbaugh and Foxnews. You will never get the full coverage regarding Obama UNLESS they can find a way to turn it negative to appeal to people like you.

Secondly, if you would expand your media investigation outside the listed above and visit honnoluluadvisor you will see that it was Maya (Obama's sister) who made the announcement. The obituary does NOT have to be in the paper for people like you to parse and dissect.....hell she's not your grandmother, why should you care.

Third, keeping the details out the paper will keep idiots like WBC from protesting or any other deranged and racist people from trying to kill him and his family. The mortuary has been listed and that is all you nosey, nothing to do but find hate and complaint, need to know, since YOU ARE NOT INVITED TO THE SERVICE...YOU ARE NOT FAMILY.