And change was slow to come as Michelle Obama matured. She and her brother knew that their father, a carpenter, was denied union membership and shut out of lucrative construction jobs because he was black. Although intellectually gifted in high school, Michelle Obama listened to an adviser discourage her from applying to Princeton University. She graduated from Princeton with honors. When she applied to Harvard Law School, race became an issue again when counselors told her she would never make it at the premier school. She excelled at Harvard.
We all are aware of the right wing’s relentless and not-so-subtle effort to discredit the first African-American first lady. National Review magazine described her as “Mrs. Grievance.” Her young daughters, Malia and Sasha, have been ridiculed as being unintelligent. The family has been caricatured as monkeys. The first lady has been referred to as “Obama’s baby mama,” and her husband has been called the “food stamp president,” suggestive of race.
Michelle Obama feels the hurt of race, not to mention gender, every day. It is an unavoidable part of her life. If she is an angry black woman, she earned it the hard way right here in the United States of America. v
Article originally was printed in Tampa Bay Times
Article Appeared in The Black Truth News Volume 3 Issue 2 February 2012