Flights of Faith

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Black Camelot?




"My mother was a very powerful woman. This was so in a time when that word-combination of woman and powerful was almost unexpressable in the white american common tongue, except or unless it was accompanied by some aberrant explaining adjective like blind, or hunchback, or crazy, or Black. therefore when I was growing up, powerful woman equaled something else quite different from ordinary woman, from simply "woman." It certainly did not, on the other hand, equal "man." What then? What was the third designation?" - Audre Lorde in Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.

"Usually, I love the dynamics of a cheeky woman puncturing the ego of a cocky guy.

I liked it in '40s movies, and I liked it with Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel, and Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis in "Moonlighting."

So why don't I like it with Michelle and Barack?" - Maureen Dowd in her column (click the #1 search item for full text w/o registration).

Because she's black, Maureen. And a woman.

Now, I realize I'm laying down a bold claim. I don't know what Dowd thinks about Hillary or what she thought of Mrs. Heinz-Kerry, but I do see something unsettling in her critique of Michelle Obama's treatment of her husband. In the article, she discusses Michelle's tendency to humanize Obama through (what I would consider) teasing. I understand Dowd's critique that this humanization starts from an understanding that he is more than that: a superhero only dressed like one of us. But let's face it, famous politicians are more than their bodies. Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Obama, Pelosi, Kennedy, and Guliani all stand for something bigger than their life experiences. It's a longstanding trend and one that is worthy of a brief historical analysis.

Black (male) leaders have always been seen as more than human since most of our community bought into (even after bondage, we had agency) a system of patriarchy that states that as the norm anyway. From Douglass to DuBois to King, these figures have benefited from a system of patriarchy that historicizes them as demigods while their female counterparts (Sojourner Truth, Ann Plato, Lucy Delaney, Mary McLeod Bethune, Irene Morgan, and Claudette Covin to name a few) remain unwritten or passively written in history books. It is also a system that demands the oppression of these men as non-white members of a hierarchical oppressive system.

Michelle Obama does not “emasculate” Barack as she jokingly reveals his flaws, she liberates him from an imposed hypermasculine and distant identity forced upon other men, especially men of color. While I do not think this a necessary duty of a significant other, I do see it as teamwork on the part of the Obamas. This seems to be a system that has worked well throughout their marriage, and I am glad that the campaign trail will not force either of them into foreign and constrictive gender roles.

Dowd, for whatever reason, sees Michelle in light of Barack. It could be the trappings of the potential first lady position or it could be perpetuated by racial or gender bias. I think all factors are to blame since this piece might also fall into a similar framework. Let’s try to change that. What does Michelle have to say about this? In a USA TODAY article, she does not directly address Dowd’s critique when asked about it she simply said that Dowd “doesn’t understand.” In other comments though, it really seems like she is sincerely trying to get America to judge Obama as a person rather than a deity. Looking at Camille’s piece a few posts back, it might be a good idea. She says:

It’s important at this time for people to feel like they own this process and that they don’t turn it over to the next messiah, who’s going to fix it all, you know? And then we’re surprised when people turn out not to be who we’ve envisioned them to be. There is a specialness to him [but] if he’s doing his job, he’s going to say things you don’t agree with.

Responding to John F. Kennedy’s pristine Camelot model, Michelle is deliberate in her stance:

“Camelot to me doesn’t work. It was a fairy tale that turned out not to be completely true because no one can live up to that. And I don’t want to live like that.”

I think that last line is critical. Michelle sees this period before the primaries and possibly general election as real life. Not time where events, people, and personalities can be suspended for the public eye. She knows a Messianic politician is very close to, if not already, an oxymoron and is using her agency to anticipate the inevitable Obama deflation by emphasizing the positive but not lying or hiding the negative, even if it’s unseen to everyone but her.

Michelle Obama does not seem to believe in these safe spaces we bring up on TNS. Or rather, she believes in a safe yet public space for her own career and her own life instead of a private one where potential problems with Barack would fester. It seems to be a matter of possession. She knows he could be ours (if only representatively) and wants us to see things from her perspective to facilitate an easy and honest process of electing the best person for the job. It might just be me, but I find that admirable.

As for Ms. Dowd, I don't think she knows what to do with a strong black female who will not simply sit and smile but instead will be her own person free and willing to examine her husband's behavior, politics, and his public reception when she thinks it’s appropriate. I don't think Michelle should remove herself to the business side of Barack's campaign, as Dowd suggests. After all, Michelle’s speeches on the campaign just might be implicitly critiquing those oppressive systems that relegate her to that third unnamed designation far from recognition or understanding. Neither a mammy nor a jezebel, Michelle Obama is free from the usual expectations for black women. Equipped with a high profile career and an educated black man, Michelle Obama is writing her own history.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi there, Common sense is not so common. Modern women understand everything except their husbands.Para que serve zyrtec Wwf trish stratus naked Gas fireplace inserts bucks county pa Cruz r101 netflix Carmen electra naked Banco general panama venta de bienes reposeidos 15mg adderall taken orally Naked amputee Free erotic sex stories Hot blonde chicks getting fucked A man falls in love just as he falls downstairs. It is an accident.

4:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

VabTrk [url=http://www.guccijp2012.com/]グッチ アウトレット[/url] KqwBao TcbUwe http://www.guccijp2012.com/ PufZdq OdaNyv [url=http://www.mbtbuyjp.com/]MBT サンダル[/url] WmmXdi BxoQxn http://www.mbtbuyjp.com/ LipGqb LksFqf [url=http://www.shoejapan.info/]Ugg[/url] HjdKfj KmmWcb http://www.shoejapan.info/ DesMst HkjAnf [url=http://www.monclerannka.com/]モンクレール アウトレット[/url] WhzPlu UoaCzs http://www.monclerannka.com/ ImvWij HvsRam [url=http://www.guccisuki.com/]グッチ アウトレット[/url] IblFab XwzJhd http://www.guccisuki.com/ GrnJil TxoGbe [url=http://www.chloenosekai.com/]クロエ バッグ[/url] XxsFpo PbqBhd http://www.chloenosekai.com/ YbeHrs OsqQiw [url=http://www.jpannka.com/]UGG ブーツ 激安[/url] NvkPfa FzeCqm http://www.jpannka.com/ QymYmz

11:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cost-free Proxy Servers are utilised for anonymous searching. Most prevalent use of totally free proxy server is to bypass the higher education/workplace or any other place's safety limits and entry unrestricted internet sites. But [url=http://youtu.be/jHPsZTC-_Bk ]click here [/url] servers really should be employed with caution. If used with out basic safety steps, it can outcome in large decline as when compared to edge of searching the web anonymously. There are two ways by means of which you can cover your identity (your IP address) when surfing the world wide web. 1st and the most low-cost way is to use totally free proxy server. There are numerous windows and linux proxy internet sites accessible on the world wide web which lets you use their companies free of charge of cost. The other alternative for hiding your identification is to use compensated application. The IP hiding software program, adjustments your IP tackle repeatedly to permit you browse web anonymously.

There are number of essential things you need to have to keep in brain when utilizing free proxy servers.

one.) Watch out for your protection

Do not give out any sensitive information this kind of as your login facts or credit card info when using different proxy servers because when you use free of charge proxy server, all the details you provide on any website is very first sent to free of charge proxy server and then to the internet site server. So all the information go via the totally free proxy server and most of the time it is unencrypted, exposing your delicate data for potential misuse.

Paid out software program are significantly better in terms and conditions of safety. There techniques are made to conceal your IP and then discard all your information with out any human involvement.

two.) Balance and Availability

There are several totally free proxy server internet sites but most of them are not steady and are not available each and every time you go to them. This issue is not really considerable with paid computer software.

3.) Speed of Searching

When you use any proxy server for hiding your IP, you can feel the slow velocity of searching instantaneously. Although there are great sites available for anonymous browsing but they are extremely hard to locate. Also, speed is not regular it depends mainly on load on their servers. At instances you do get great browsing pace but it is not constant. Yet again, paid application for hiding IP are much much better at browsing speed. As they charge for their companies, they make sure that the user experience is better and you do not get sluggish speed while browsing the web by means of their application.

They are also fantastic when you discover a top quality a single that masks your nation of origin. When searching for a On the internet Proxy make confident it has Java installed so you can observe movies. As you can sometimes have your place of origin cloaked but if java does not operate it is not significantly use.

5:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good day! I just would like to offer you a huge thumbs up for your excellent
information you have got right here on this post.
I will be returning to your web site for more soon.



Feel free to surf to my blog post :: cccam prio

5:22 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home