Here we go again. Yet another chance for right-wing racists to gin-up a teapot tempest around our first lady, Michelle Obama. In case you haven't noticed, and have been isolated from news for the last five or six years, the first lady of the United States of America is black.Her blackness, along with that of her husband the president, is a source of pride for many of us, who are also black. Her grace, her wit, her intelligence, her commitment to a range of issues, her roots in the working class, her descendancy from enslaved ancestors ... oh I could go on and on about why this particular black woman (me) gets a bit teary eyed over the fact that at age 65 this is something I thought I'd never live to see in the country built on the backs of many of my ancestors.
This isn't the first time I've felt compelled to write about FLOTUS. I've spoken to the importance of her not only being a strong black woman, but also about her actual skin tone. In "The social significance of Michelle Obama's skin color," I addressed that issue from a black perspective.I am not alone in responding to the racism that floats up and stinks like steam from slimy sewage found in bigoted minds and swirls around this president and his wife.This last week's outrage about how FLOTUS dealt with a heckler a a private fundraising event, is only one example of the target she has been, from the beginning of the Obama family's occupancy of the "white" house. Other writers here have cataloged a laundry list of Republican and right-wing smears.
she has been as big a target as her husband, but both are graced with the composure and eloquence of their status, the right since before inauguration 1 to goad and in their misinformed heads expose the "angry Black man and woman another insanity they done it many times to the same presidential end, but try try again.
Al Sharpton covered the issue, on an MSNBC panel as I knew he would.As did Anthea Butler, on Melissa Harris-Perry's blog, in "Why GetEQUAL’s heckling of Michelle Obama backfired."It's easy to point a finger at right-wing racists. Their brand is obvious, open, and is no longer a matter of having to listen for dog-whistles.What is far more painful, for me, is to turn my eyes toward those who should ostensibly be part of our broad progressive coalition of folks who whether knowingly, or unknowingly, are so ensconced and pillowed by privilege that they too join in spouting openly derisive, and racist "critiques" which only serve the agenda of those who are out to oppress all of us.This, my friends, has got to stop.
IMO i feel it won't change until "we the people change it, if you try to correct bad behavior and the ones who are experiencing that behavior say nothing then the perpetrators feel no reason to stop. saying nothing is tantamount to a green light. only if we exercise our power and keep up front "YES WE CAN", will this change. if you want it it, c'mon and get it!
