HONOLULU (KHON2) -- This week, you can meet one of Hawaii's football legends, who's holding a book signing on Wednesday for his book "Fat Girl Sings", discovering, embracing, and leveraging racial identity on the football field, in business, and in life.
Ray Schoenke, the book's author, said it's a compelling journey of early trauma, self-discovery, and his struggle to embrace all of himself, including his ancestry.
Throughout his life, he has led with being Hawaiian, defying racial stereotypes in the sports and business arenas. The Punahou alum, a 12-year National Football League veteran with the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, and Polynesian Football Hall of Famer joined Wake Up 2Day Tuesday morning to share more about his book.
"My book speaks of how I internalized the better parts of myself (Fat Girl) most of my life in order to confront the challenges I faced and how I struggled to reconnect with those parts of myself over the course of my lifetime," Schoenke said. "My life has been a struggle to understand myself, my environment, and my Hawaiian ancestry and I now embrace and am proud of all of it. My race has played an instrumental role in my successes in life. What I want Hawaiian people to take away from my story is to never give up and to be proud of our heritage. You may have to work harder, better, or longer than your non-Polynesian peers to earn the recognition you deserve, but you can earn that recognition."
The book signing is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12 at 6 p.m. at the Inspiration Hawaii Museum.