It's not about Michelle
I really like what my colleague Adam had to say about Juan Williams' comments on Michelle Obama:
This isn't an isolated statement about something someone said last year, it fits into an established narrative of who black women are. Rather than being the hyper-sexualized Jezebel popular in rap music, she's portrayed as the masculine ball-buster, the kind of women ignorant men write "why I don't date black women" essays about, trying to convince themselves that there's something rational about hating the kind of woman who gave birth to you. Williams' statement makes me angry not because it's about Michelle, but because it's so manifestly not about her, but about black women in general. And maybe with some kind of messed up, terrible rationalization I can divorce myself from what happens in Hip-hop because I know Jeezy isn't talking about my mama. But when people talk about Michelle like this, they're talking about this universe of brilliant, accomplished black women who never seem to get their due. They're talking about the women I know; my mother, my aunts, my cousins. And it makes me furious.
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Duh. Minorities and women are never individuals; we are always representatives of our entire group. /sad sarcasm
I can't decide which people hate more, the fact that she's a black female in the White House or that she's a strong female - or all of those.
Er, I meant "both", not "all".
I can only hope that, like Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama goes into politics herself after her husband's presidency. She's already on the receiving end of the same sort of "ball-busting mannish wife of a charming man" sexism that Clinton got in 1993, coupled with that weird brand of racist "radical"-calling.
Wow, I always liked Juan Williams stories on NPR. I didn't know how closed-minded he was. What a terrible thing to say. Michelle Obama is a role model for every woman in America because of her intelligence, hard work and dedication to others. She came out of near poverty, right? At least we know she's tough enough to take this sort of crap criticism.
Not that it's ever ok to say stuff you can't back up, Juan.
Wow, I always liked Juan Williams' stories on NPR. I didn't know how closed-minded he was. What a terrible thing to say. Michelle Obama is a role model for every woman in America because of her intelligence, hard work and dedication to others. She came out of near poverty, right? At least we know she's tough enough to take this sort of crap criticism.
Not that it's ever ok to say stuff you can't back up, Juan.