Sohale Siddiqi (also Hal Siddiqi) was the best friend and roommate of Barack Obama while he attended Columbia University in the early 1980s. He is identified as “Sadik” in Obama’s memoir, Dreams From My Father. Obama describes Saddiqi as “a short, well-built Pakistani” who smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine. Siddiqi was from Karachi, Pakistan and came to America from London on a tourist visa. He overstayed his visa becoming an illegal alien. [1]
Obama first met Siddiqi when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. Obama was living with a group of Pakistani students when Siddiqi arrived for a visit. Obama transferred to Columbia University and lived off campus with Siddiqi. Siddiqi was not a student and made his living working in restaurants. Together they lived in a drug-ridden slum apartment on 339 East 94th St. Siddiqi go the apartment by lying, saying he had a well paid job. The apartment was furnished by what they could find in the streets.
Obama and Siddiqi would go out together and enjoy the nightlife of New York City. Siddiqi claims Obama stopped using drugs when he arrived at Columbia. Obama eventually moved out when Siddiqi’s partying began to interfere with his studies. [Link]
hmmm… reminds me of the time when a buddy and i went around our little town and got excited when we saw a couch by a dumpster. then we went to pick it up and there was a white gloopy mess on one arm – looked like congealed potatoes in mayonnaise – sort of like dosa batter for those in the know. anyway.. we got something from the church later.
wonder what hal’s up to these days?
And yet did not teach him manners regarding the soles of his feet.
The brownz REALLY have some love for Obama. So much so that they wrote a catchy tune just so you could understand how much.
is that a doobie in sid’s hand?
Siddiqi’s mother had never been around a black man and she was rude to him.
hmmmm..Pakistani’s are not exactly white, so what was up with siddiqi’s mother? where did she acquire her racism from?
Ummm have you ever been to South Asia? Or even East Asia? Or pretty much any part of the world? There is almost always racism against black men. It has little to do with one’s own relative skin tone.
what does it have to do with, if not skin tone? please inform.
5 · nm said
must’ve been smoking something
They have entire college courses (even majors) dedicated to that. I am not sure a comment thread is the best place to even try.
8 · Manju said
how can you be rude to your son’s roommate? even if you are a racist, try to at least hide it, in order not to embarrass your son. For her not to even have the good sense to mask it says something very deep about the racism in that part of the world.
Actually, his desiness comes from his Indian roommate while at Occidental college, which was were he went before Columbia. Can’t remember his name… look it up!
You are still missing the point. “That part of the world,” is all the world. And how does “hiding racism” make it better?
I did look it up (and have written about it on SM before). See the last link in the post. He had two Pakistani friends and then later met and lived with an Indian for a while in LA.
wait till drudge gets a hold of this story: a coke snorting, pakistani muslim who had overstayed his visa and become an illegal alien? this is a gold mine for right wing radio.
I like his mouche. It rocks my world.
I’m sorry but that guy looks creepy.
“Obama eventually moved out when Siddiqi’s partying began to interfere with his studies.”
Well that’s different. Who knew it’d be the brownie interfering with studies.
When I saw the picture the first thing that struck me was the body language. Specifically the way Obama using the majority of space and squeezing the dimunitive Pakistani friend. The way he has his feet towards his friend showing the sole.
a. How many years does it take for a naturally expansive and aggressive self to mask those gestures and appear suitably mellow/humble? b. How many years will it take for me, living in this country, to declare that showing feet is no longer as offensive as it once was when in India?
That’s a cool looking Obama there!
You know, some people undergo this process called “personal growth” where they acknowledge and learn to correct defects in their character.
Peep the crescent and star converses….Dope!
18 · seo hack said
mask them? I was struck by how familiar the Obama arched head has become. He’s more corporate now to be sure, doesn’t do the hippie-ish sprawled legs thing, but he uses the cocked head during his speeches, perhaps not as demonstratively as Mussolini, but noticeable nonetheless.
Those converse are too nice! vintage
22 · Manju said
niiice. i like.
Obama was friends with Gallagher?
I did read his book and wonder who that Pakistani kid was. Thanks for highlighting this.
5 · nm said
Pakistanis are super-racist. I hate to speak on behalf of all Pakistanis, but all of the older aunties and uncles I know are incredibly ignorant when it comes to black Americans. Perhaps it’s fear of the unknown, or the violence associated with owners of gas-stations/convenience stores – but whatever it is, most say incredibly demeaning things about black folks. This isn’t atypical. Go anywhere in the middle east, jordan, saudia arabia, etc and you will find a hatred towards darker-skinned folks. Come-on, just look at all of those whitening creams they sell in Pakistan/India.
23 · glass houses said
I’m drooling over Obama’s buttery shoes and his chocolate brown leather jacket. It should be illegal for a man in this twenties to dress that well. Sigh.
I can’t decide if the pakistani guy looks more like freddie mercury or borat.
27 · phillygrrl said
My experience everytime I’ve been to a convenience store or coffee shop or anywhere else tells me that it’s not just pakistani’s. It’s everyone from both India and pakistan. I’ve sometimes wondered why so many of them open these convenience stores because they seem to be so miserable and so filled with anger and/or hatred.
Why not open these stores in all white neighborhoods then?
No please, no thank you, even if you smiled at them. i knew some of it was racial, but I also think some of it is cultural
6 · Wild Elephant said
Sad, stupid and self-defeating. But true. Obama looks a lighter and ruddier shade of brown than the “wheatish” pakistani brother. If you look at Obama’s pics in swimming trunks you can see that the parts of his body not normally exposed to sunlight are lighter skinned than probably 99% of south asians. Also, Obama may be “skinny” but unlike his desi pal he is skinny in a healthy and athletic way.
Am I seeing things or is the couch that Obama and Siddiqui sitting on exactly the same as the current Oval office couch? Premonition, anyone?
M. Nam
32 · MoorNam said
OMG! Our current president is a secret Muslim Kenyan, and now our next President is going to be an illegal Muslim alien!!!
y’know, there’s a great photo of donald rumsfeld and saddam hussein from their youth when they were sharing a laugh and, oh, possibly some wmds. does this photo mean that obama is going to bomb, bomb, bomb pakistan now?
“I’m drooling over Obama’s buttery shoes”
Those shoes are nice…if they are true to Obama’s thrift store habits they may have belonged to any number of interesting cats before him…a pimp on 141 and Lenox for instance. excellent.
they look extremely, extremely stoned in that pic. my guess is that that would explain the body language. Bammy’s all spliffed out!
Looks llike they enjoyed making sexy time explosion after doing coke.
35 · glass houses said
are you commending him for services rendered?
“are you commending him for services rendered?”
Hell yes. I didn’t think he’d get there. But he has and so I gotta say; He is the Mack and Soul Bros #1 rolled into one.
the couch has an eerie resemblance to Michelle’s inauguration dress
Negro means black skinned. I am not selling anything but, to most black people many Arabs look like black people with straight hair, nothing else. To non-blacks there is a difference. Desis, blacks and Arabs still have their cultural differences however. Obama is neither arab or black or white.
41 · aviewer said
Obama self-identifies as Black.
42 · NV said
so does vanilla ice
41 · aviewer said
Oh hai, are you the black people spokesperson they talk about? Nice to meet u.
Not all Pakistanis are “super racist”, but I would have to say that plenty are (but not that different from most groups if you want to be honest about things).
I can say that in my experience that my less educated “paindo” pakistani relatives are probably less “racist” towards blacks than the “educated” city dwelling types i’ve across, whether they work in corner stores or as doctors, lawyers, etc. I’ve seen far too many examples of this…
But the Paindoos tend to immigrate to Canada and the U.S. in far less numbers.
Did Obama have more than one roommate in Columbia whom he first met in Occidental college? This story about Siddiqi as Obama’s roommate sounds similar to the story about Obama’s roommate in Columbia whom he first met at Occidental College, named Phil Boerner.
Er, what’s with linking to Metapedia?
He’s wearing a rather smug look on his face that is all too familiar.
I think Obama and Sadik were a little more than roomates, notice the lack of personal space between the two. Roomates even the best of them don’t sit with thighs abutting. Obama pings my Gay-dar.
I think Obama and Sadik were a little more than roomates, notice the lack of personal space between the two. Roomates even the best of them don’t sit with thighs abutting. Obama pings my Gay-dar.