The softening of Michelle Obama
MICHELLE OBAMA'S speech at the Democratic National Convention was carefully crafted to dispel the racist stereotypes of Black men and Black families that still pervade this country. And she had to prove she is no "angry Angela Davis."
Her brother was described as her "protector"--a successful man who is an athletic coach, not a violent, drug-dealing, pot-smoking, baggy pants-wearing "pimp gangsta" from the hood.
Her father was depicted as her "provider" who got up early every day to dress himself--it was a struggle because he had multiple sclerosis--to go to work. With her father, Obama was challenging the racist stereotype of the lazy Black man who has no motivation to find a job and doesn't support his family.
As a wife and mother, her marriage to Barack confirmed that the institution of marriage is alive and well in the Black community, against the racist notion that Black men don't want commitment, and Black women are all single moms.
Like Hillary "I-don't-stay-home-and-bake-cookies-and-host-teas" Clinton, she was instructed to "soften" her image. So she had to portray herself, first and foremost, as a sister, daughter, wife and mother and emphasize the rewards of marriage and motherhood. There was not much made about the fact that she is a Harvard-trained lawyer who worked at the law firm Sidley Austin, that she was executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, and that she was a vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
I prefer the whip-smart, tough, intense, tell-it-like-it-is, South-Side-of-Chicago Michelle Obama who has challenged racism all her life--the direct opposite of how she presented herself at the convention.
She is caught up in what her husband has accurately described as "the world as it is," not "the world as it should be."
Helen Redmond, Chicago
