Is it wrong to look at those photo’s and just feel good? I’m happy to believe in something again and that’s change.

I agree that the Obama’s story is very rich and “more complicated than reducing them down to skin tones.” I’m not trying to reduce them to that single aspect, I am only saying that the aspect exists – even outside of the “bourgeoisie-colorstruck framework”. The colorstruck syndrome is hardly exclusive to the Black bourgeoisie or outside of the Black race for that matter (with respect to Leila’s comment above).

Being “a daughter of Chicago’s rough-and-tumble southside” would not shield Michelle Obama from colorstruck nonsense anymore than it would if she were the daughter of a doctor or an executive. Unfortunately, that sickness can be found everywhere.

As for the preacher’s wife analogy, I think you are right in that it would be limited to how Michelle is received by the AA women. Right or wrong, many of us see her as a representation of us. After all, we’ve been judged by our worst (Omarosa’s antics, Flava Flav’s women, video dancers), and many of us can see being judged by Michelle Obama’s actions since Black people are almost always judged as a group and not as individuals.

Also, you said:
Every black woman should not be dying to be “powerful,” but every SOUL should strive for INDEPENDENCE regardless of its gender or race.

YOu can be regarded as a “Superwoman” and people still know that you have a wide range of feelings.

The point I was making is that we are often regarded as “Superwomen” but it is not always apparent that people are aware that we have a wide range of feelings as well.

You ask, “Does it really come down to Sistahs wanting to be as “vulnerable” as other ethnicities?”

Sometimes. But usually we want to be judged fairly and given the same benefit of the doubt given to women of other ethnicities. I get your points about independence and strength regarding the Obamas, but I think it can also have a different connotation with black women and be twisted into a negative. That is the only thing I was trying to avoid but outside of that, we agree.

I must say that I agree with everyone here.

The Obama Family is truly inspiring for me. And yes, as some people pointed out, this whole thing can bring tears to one’s eyes. I know why however I have noticed that some seem to not understand the amount of emotion.

Leila, I was going to comment on your “colonize it” comment. I enjoyed that. That is exactly what it is. I style my hair differently. I straighten it and at times, I leave it natural. I do not have a relaxer, I simply just use a flat iron. Everytime I do that, I cannot help but think of why I do it.

Growing up an outsider ethnic white in the South, with consciousness of my white mother’s civil rights activism and the history that came before my integrated public schools, I had a relatively unique window into race relations in America. My father taught at a traditionally Black university for 20+ years and I got a window into Black bourgeois society that way… going to faculty parties where we were the only white people in the room, hanging out with the children of my father’s colleagues, who were all headed for top colleges, etc.

Later in NYC I tended to work in public agencies and bank departments that were very integrated – I think my weird Arab name meant I got steered to diverse offices, which I didn’t really understand until much later. Had I possessed a WASP or Jewish name I might not have found myself working with so many high-powered African-American corporate and governmental types – I might have landed more WASPy jobs. It was fine with me, believe me.

Michelle Obama’s class and power are no big surprise to me – she arises out of a familiar world. I’m just really, really happy to see that world represented in the mainstream media. About damn time.

The discussion of color above reminds me of my Arab family, who have a complicated relationship to skin color and race. Arabs are technically and officially white in this country, but skin color among us ranges from Anglo-Saxon to African. In my family the skin color ranges from light Hispanic to dark Hispanic, with an occasional blonde and quite a few red-heads.

I was shocked to hear my relatives discussing dark skin as a bad thing when I was growing up. I got my WASP mother’s pale skin, and I worked really hard to get a tan and be darker. I have always wanted to look more Arab than I do. My cousins on the other hand worked hard to make sure they didn’t get any darker than they were, and they discussed each other’s beauty openly based on how “dark” they were. I have a cousin who said of her four year old daughter, in front of the girl “Americans are always telling us how beautiful she is, but we don’t think she is beautiful. She is too dark.” This just horrified me. I was just stunned. And by the way, that child is now 24 and she is indeed dark-skinned and gorgeous, like a movie star. (with a double degree in finance and international relations, and a moving-up-the-ladder job in corporate America, despite her funny Arab name). Dark skinned in this case means dark olive; she looks Latina or Arab.

So I don’t understand this illness about rejecting our selves and our children for the color of our skin -guess we have to blame the racism of our cultures (Arabs are racist too, believe me).

In conclusion, I am just really proud to be an American when I see Michelle Obama leading us. I love these images. I do note that she has straightened her hair and gone for the tailored corporate lady look (big pearls, dresses) but I think that’s appropriate for the national audience she’s addressing. Her earlier style from old photos was more like how professional women of all colors dress around here in Oakland, with floaty skirts and ethnic jewelry. I relate to that look ’cause that’s how I dress, but the presidential stage requires a different costume. She’s smart to adapt – and she carries it off really well.

PS on the hair – I loved her hair more natural and I don’t need for it to be straightened like that but if that’s what it takes to get White MIddle America to “feel comfortable” then I admire her for making the change. My own hair is wild frizzy curly and I would get a hairdresser to “colonize it” as my friend says – if I had to do something big and public and corporate/institutional like she is doing.

Will not suffice? My M.O. at Anovelista is tying the historical into the contemporary…The complexion analysis fits because Michelle Obama, as a brown-skinned black wife of a prominent black man, is a departure.

I agree, “tying the historical to the contemporary,” is a very important component of analyzing where we stand in the present.

However with respect to the Obamas, all that I am is saying is that will simply not suffice–not be enough by itself–to appreciate their current circumstances. Their story is so much richer and more complicated than reducing them down to skin tones.

We simply cannot apply a bourgeiosie-”colorstruck” framework to neither a daughter of Chicago’s rough-and-tumble southside nor the son of a single, caucasian mother. Michelle and Barack both grew up in non-bougy environments and both were instilled with strong, INDEPENDENT streaks.

There’s a song that goes:
“I’m GOOD all by myself, but I’m a force when we’re together. COuld’ve been GOOD all by myself, But Baby YOu, YOU make me Better!”

Whenever I see the Obamas, I think of that song.

I don’t agree that the “preacher’s wife” is the best analogy…Yes, there has been much chatter about her fashion sense, but it has paled in comparison to what she THINKS and SAYS.

You’ll have to forgive me on that point; I should have elaborated more on what I meant by “Preacher’s Wife,” particularly the political aspects of being a preacher’s wife more than just “appearance” and style. My context was strictly limited to how Michelle would be perceived by AA Women (not the Right-wing or MSM who will be throwing everything including the kitchen sink at her).

…every black woman is not dying to be “powerful”. We have been “powerful” and independent over generations out of necessity.

Every black woman should not be dying to be “powerful,” but every SOUL should strive for INDEPENDENCE regardless of its gender or race.

WE can all be vulnerable at moments. Does it really come down to Sistahs wanting to be as “vulnerable” as other ethnicities? Maybe i’m missing something here.

When we celebrate the Obamas, we celebrate INDEPENDENCE, strength and individual accomplishment.

YOu can be regarded as a “Superwoman” and people still know that you have a wide range of feelings.

The best thing about the right-wing attacks on Michelle is that it gives Barack a chance to “Defend His Woman,” which totally transcends the initial racial context of the attack and puts it on a universal-human level, “Mess with my wife…I’ll %&ck you up.”

Lately, as I travel through the some of the neighborhoods here in Chicago that are still impoverished, or dealing with high crime, or not completely gentrified just yet, I have really started to study and observe the individuals particularly the youth I see. Admittedly, there was a time I did not. I never really gave it much thought why there were so many Black men hanging out on corners, why urban public school children had comparatively low test scores, the gangs, etc. I was one of those people who just shook my head and blamed, well them. I only recently had somewhat of an awakening during this very violent year in Chicago when on television I saw a Black youth matter of factly remark that he did not expect to live to see adulthood. This was after one his friends had been killed. I could not fathom the idea, how does one, a child have such mortal view of the world. I just broke down crying. My husband remarked this is what he has been trying to explain to me all these years. I say all of this to say, I wonder if just the very act of seeing a Black First Family could inspire them some of our children. Really inspire them. I want them to know they are worthy. I want so much more for them I ache.

I tell you what, I am inspired. I am stepping outside of my comfort zone.

You knocked it out of the park with that one. You got me, because that statement about us as Black Women is oh, so true, and fits many of us to a T.

Now, I’m going to tell a joke of sorts, but it fits, too.

Anyone remember when some comedian, a dark-skinned brotha, told the audience and made reference to a light-skinned brotha that thanks to Wesley Snipes, he put dark-skinned brothas back in fashion and that all the women stopped giving play to the “beige” brothas as a result?

While I laughed, I was sad, too; that we simply appear, as a race, to get past the issue of skin color. White people ask me all the time what’s up with Blacks and the inner-bigotry of skin color.

My answer is usually harsh, but I answer them, anyway. I usually reply:

“Some white guy named Willie Lynch told slaveowners that the best way to forstall Blacks congregating en masse and facilitating a mutiny is to divide them by skin-color; treating one group with darker skin worse than the ones with light-skin. That wound up with light-skinned slaves getting the house work and dark-skinned slaves working in the fields. It also fueled self hatred among us, because we actually started to believe that one color was superior to another; the way Lynch wanted it.”

Now, there’s some dissent as to whether or not Willie Lynch himself actually existed, but the use of colonization as a means of separating the Black race, is very real and continues almost five centuries later.

I’ve witnessed it in my own family. My paternal grandmother had very little to do with ten of her grandchildren because she was a color freak. My father and his brothers married brown to dark-skinned sistas and they were light brown to high yellow brothas.

My grandmother never forgave them for marrying who they loved. The one son-in-law she had that was damned near white, abused and cheated on my aunt until the day she couldn’t take it anymore and busted a cap in his guts. While everyone urged my aunt Claudine to leave Uncle Charles, my grandmother urged her to stay because he was light-skinned.

That was some sick shyt. My father made a conscious decision when my brother was born, to keep his children away from his mother.

A decision, I might add, that was very wise, because my brother and I may very well have been scarred by our grandmother. As a result, thanks to both parents, skin color was not allowed to be an issue in our house, and even when my own mother (who’s Michelle’s color) made reference to it, my high yellow maternal grandmother, for whom I am named, would put her in check, too.

Sorry to get a lil’ off topic, but Michelle Obama should be celebrated for the fact that she is a beautiful and accomplished woman who will re-define the role of First Lady to the point that after their eight years are up, women coming after her will have a standard to meet as First Lady, because she will establish it.

Deep article, but I’m not sure yet if “it’s our Camelot,” or more importantly, if we want it to be “Camelot.”

Webb, my friend was referring to the good part, the images of the Kennedy and Obama families when she referred to Camelot. Naturally, we want the Obama White House to go far behind Camelot in length and accomplishments.

The article is long, but I am certainly not suggesting that all we see is Camelot.

Analogies to the past will not suffice. The complexion complexes of skin color will not suffice.

Will not suffice? My M.O. at Anovelista is tying the historical into the contemporary, so I absolutely disagree that “analogies to the past will not suffice.” I think a big problem with American culture today, black and everyone else, is that most people have limited historical perspectives. If they don’t know enough history, idiot talking heads on cable TV or talk radio tend to have more impact.

The complexion analysis fits because Michelle Obama, as a brown-skinned black wife of a prominent black man, is a departure. Studies have been done over decades and it has been discussed ad nauseum in the black community because it is true – prominent black men, when they are married to black women, tend to marry lighter-skinned black women or biracial women who consider themselves black. This is part of the appeal for many black women (not all) of a Michelle Obama.

And I am certainly not negating light-skinned women. All of the historical women that I pointed out were light-skinned and some even passed for white, so it is not about that at all.

The best analogy to the present is the “Preacher’s Wife.” In the beginning, she’ll be held more to the standard of what she wears more than what she thinks. Her presence: Is she pious? Is she upstanding?

Therein lies the true power of Michelle *O*…She masters style as easily as she has mastered the law. She will be not be anybody’s Barbie doll. She will speak her mind. She will redefine the phrase “First Lady.” If she chose, she could be the “Hillary who gets healthcare passed,” but that’s for her to decide.

I don’t agree that the “preacher’s wife” is the best analogy, but it is a good one. You stated, “In the beginning, she’ll be held more to the standard of what she wears more than what she thinks. Her presence: Is she pious? Is she upstanding?”

Well, that already does NOT apply to Michelle Obama. Yes, there has been much chatter about her fashion sense, but it has paled in comparison to what she THINKS and SAYS. Hence, the right-wing attacks and smears that have inspired “Fight the Smears” from the Obama Campaign and WAOD’s “Michelle Obama Watch.”

When I see her, I know that she’s married to Barack, she is the mother of his children…but she will always be her own woman. That’s a powerful sista.

Very nice, but every black woman is not dying to be “powerful”. We have been “powerful” and independent over generations out of necessity. That is not to say that there is no beauty in power, but the burden of necessity in displaying our power has contributed to the false notion that we are all “superwomen” who can take anything and don’t have a wide range of feelings like women of other races.

Regardless, we know their story is different and equally powerful. I am really looking forward to see Michelle and the wee ones in the White House.

I joke a lot about these two, but something sticks out at me about the whole campaign. especially after seeing this interview:

If they succeed, it turns white supremacy upside down. And not, in my opinion, because a black man is in the White House, it’s because a black woman is in there. And she didn’t have to come in the back door to lie in bed with the president.

Webb, that was beautiful, powerful, and on point. I see that too.

and webb, word.

I want it to be better than Camelot. America’s Camelot lasted from 61-to-63 and ended in tragedy…so it’s got to be better than Camelot.

Analogies to the past will not suffice. The complexion complexes of skin color will not suffice.

The best analogy to the present is the “Preacher’s Wife.” In the beginning, she’ll be held more to the standard of what she wears more than what she thinks. Her presence: Is she pious? Is she upstanding?

Therein lies the true power of Michelle *O*…She masters style as easily as she has mastered the law. She will be not be anybody’s Barbie doll. She will speak her mind. She will redefine the phrase “First Lady.” If she chose, she could be the “Hillary who gets healthcare passed,” but that’s for her to decide.

When I see her, I know that she’s married to Barack, she is the mother of his children…but she will always be her own woman. That’s a powerful sista.