the Black Power Movement on the attitudes of black Princeton students during the 70s. Hannity claimed that she herself held, “the belief that blacks must join in solidarity to combat a white oppressor.” Failing to note that the First Lady’s thesis goes on to say, “One can contrast the mood of the campus years ago and the level of attachment to Blacks to that of the present mood on the campus [in 1985] which is more pro-integrationist.” Hannity posed a rhetorical question on his program, saying, “She talked about why African-Americans joined together at Princeton. Is race going to now be an issue for them?" The irony of Hannity’s statement is that he fails to see that it is precisely this type of discourse, which programs such as his proliferate, that makes race a serious issue for this presidency every single day. Not because the Obamas are attempting to push some radical Black Panther agenda, but because they are never permitted to forget about the color of their skin. Much of the right-wing media’s criticism focuses around the issues of race; whether they believe the Obama’s to be pandering to minorities, plotting some sort of black American revolution, accusing Obama of manipulating the public with his “coolness” (read: blackness), or accusing him of lying about his Kenyan origins. Hannity couldn’t even muster support for his conspiracy theories amongst his guests, including Tennessee Republican Congressman Harold Ford Jr. who replied to Hannity’s line of anti-patriotic questioning by saying, “If we're looking back to how spouses of presidential candidates, when they were students in elementary and junior high and middle and high school and even college, to determine whether or not their husband or their spouse is fit to be president, I think we've sunk to a new low. Michelle Obama is a model for what anybody would want their daughter to be. She's smart. Not only a -- wonderfully capable and accomplished academically, but she's an incredible mom.” But, clearly, Michelle Obama was not always viewed as an ideal role model and mother, certainly by some of her husband’s right-wing constituents, but, also, surprisingly, by some left-leaning publications. During his first presidential campaign, The New Yorker published a cartoon on their cover portraying Mrs. Obama with an afro and machine gun giving Barack a “terrorist fist jab,” implying the radical, revolutionary Obamas had infiltrated the White House. However, The New Yorker cover for the March 16, 2009 issue, a mere year later, shows how quickly Michelle’s public persona was manipulated and transformed by the media and spun by the White House. The 2009 cover shows her walking the runway in three different stylish outfits. This is the perfect illustrative example of both the media’s attempt to mollify or domesticate the image of the First Lady and the larger dichotomy at hand, which women in politics must face every day. Either she is her husband’s co-conspirator, plotting some grand, black radical takeover of America, or she is the consummate fashion plate who can’t be bothered with America’s poor and disenfranchised. As a woman in the American political limelight, you’re afforded two possible identities, either that of an intelligent, shrewd harpie or a vain, thoughtless socialite. Women’s identities can be condensed down to these rudimentary understandings, unlike their male counterparts who are permitted to be as complex, diverse, and often contradictory as they like. Michelle Obama doesn’t fit America’s racial stereotype of what a black woman should be, so she’s degraded and insulted and marginalized by the media until they can find a way to make her fit into their preconceived notions. We’ve created a culture surrounding the White House where it’s not only permissible to say any passing racist or sexist remark that comes to mind, but it’s all right to gossipmonger, speculate and fabricate whatever story or quote is needed in order to support the argument against a black President and First Lady who were democratically elected into office. One can’t imagine these types of lewd and divisive statements being made about any former president, let alone their wives. America may have elected their first black President into office, but we still have an incredibly long road towards equality, of all kinds, ahead of us. REVOLT <strong>Magazine</strong> Number 4, 2013 18
Gregory Hilton, Marie-Antoinette, 2012
- Page 2 and 3: m a g a z i n e TM volume 1 no. 4
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