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Barack, for the most part, got a pass by Grigoriadis.
However, Grigoriadis seems convinced that Michelle Obama is not quite what she seems and is up to something. Grigoriadis studied every eye flicker, head turn, smile, laugh, breath, and piece of clothing of Michelle’s to get the “real story” of what made this Black, Black, Black, Blaaaaaaack woman tick.
But why?
It comes down to a phenomena that is not new. Someone who is an ethnic (say Irish, Italian, or GREEK) immigrant or the daughter of ethnic immigrants, arrives to North American. Immediately, to deflect attention away from their own ethnicity, they quickly “other” African Americans, in order to solidify their own ethnic identity with White identity. You Black People sure are strange to All Us White People!
Vanessa Griogaridis, she of the recently arrived to North America Greek heritage, has gone extremely far out of her way to “other” Michelle Obama, she whose ancestors have likely been North American since there was a North America. Griogaridis wants her readers to understand that Obama is a foreign, strange, Black creature who’s every movement and nuance has to be explained to terrified, helpless, clueless White America.
Fortunately, the latest Essence is out and reading that gave me an understanding of why Michelle Obama remains serene and upbeat despite reporting that would have driven another woman indoors.
Apparently, Michelle’s mother has a philosophy that just because someone calls you a dog, that doesn’t mean you don’t get down on all fours and start barking. No. You keep going and doing what you were doing before the idiot stepped to you.
So, truthfully, I’ve come to the conclusion that the article Grigoriadis wrote tells us MUCH more about Grigoriadis and her insecurity with her own identity, as a Greek and perhaps as a woman outdone when faced with a more powerful woman.
I think the reporting on Michelle will become more shrill, catty, and resentful as the convention draws near. It will take a woman pretty confident in herself to report on Michelle Obama... Grigoriadis is not that woman.
I told yall that NewYorker cover was about Michelle. Imagine this story and that cover together.
It is the middle of the night here in Indy and I have been reading everyone's comments and find that we all share the same frustrations. I must however interject for the first time and say this... Why are we so upset?
When you see an pig and you smell a pig, do you expect chicken instead? This is what we all knew would become the pattern of MSM behavior. I however am especially proud of the authors reaction. Before you all bash me, hear me out. When the lady on the elevator moves her purse, I laugh. When the salesclerk in the store watches me, I laugh. When a white man tries to bait me, I laugh. Why... becuase I find their situation hysterical. They are afraid of me!!!!
I am the hard-working mother, descendant of slaves, mother of future black women and men voters, female yang to my man's yin. I am powerful and I frighten the living shyt out of all of them.
We have always understood the power of the black woman in a man's life. They seem to think that power should come from someone white. Truth is, Barack knew that Michelle was his equal, if not his better, in every way and he did his parents and grandparents proud in choosing such a mate as her.
In their words they say that the worst thing for the presidency is him, but in their mind they know that the worst thing for their way of life is her. The longer that I have watched the two of them together I see the real strength in the relationship; It is Michelle.
They may have their misgivings about Barack, but the true fear is of that "angry black women". The same woman that they covet and hate at the same time. Which is why they have allowed us to work alongside their men, while they silently cast aside ours. However, when they discover how intelligent and independent and strong black women really are, they panic. Many black men have been defeated by their system, but the vast number of smart, strong black women are still here fighting for their families, homes, jobs, and independence, while remaining faithful allies to our men.
I acknowledge the historical significance of the first african-american president but I desperately await the power of the first african-american FIRST LADY from the south side of Chicago who grew up fifteen minutes from me and truly understands me on that elevator and in that store, and I hope she's laughing at them right now,
I'm glad you can laugh, but the reality of the situation is too painful for me to laugh. Obama should be should be just another candidate running for president and Michelle should be just another candidate's wife, but portions of white america stopped laughing at his desire to be president now that he is a serious contender and now nobody's laughing us - this is for real.
::
I sent this post to a friend of mine. Black woman. Clinton Democrat. Didn't follow the primaries closely enough to have ingested all the race baiting.
Likes Barack. Doesn't think he has enough experience. Feels he was "sent" to derail Miss HIllary. But she recognizes his talent nonetheless. This is what she said via email:
::
I told you before that there is more to being President than having the best ideas about how the country should be runn - that there are criteria that have to be met. When you get a chance read up on the Masonic influence in American politics.
But there is more. Every first lady has to be traced in some shape form or fashion to a Mayflower Family. She must be able to join the DAR - Daughters of the American Revolution. It's quite obvious that Mrs. Obama's descendants , while stepping off of a boat, did not step off of the Mayflower. The person writing the article's family didn't either but that is besides the point.
The First Lady sets the tone for the women of this country in many ways. She is the fashion leader, the perfect example of a political wife, and the face of the standard of the proper female overseas. That Michelle Obama, an obvious descendant of slaves, is poised to become the social leader of this country has probably given the WASP establishment the vapors. It makes no difference what she has accomplished in the world. She is too obviously African and too many see her as someone who should be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning their homes. Or wearing door knocker ear rings and smacking gum.
Ironically it was Michelle that first made me notice Obama. I asked myself why so many successful black men seem to find the lightest, brightest and damn near whitest women to be their mates if they don't jump the fence totally and how this biracial man fell in love with and married a woman who looked like Michelle.
This is another way Barack reminds me of Bill Clinton. Clinton said he did not want the prettiest he wanted the smartest. Barack has done the same thing in his choice of mate in picking someone who is his match in brains and ambition.
Him they can swallow because of his mother. And don't forget his father was never enslaved so they can overlook that. It's her they're going to go after.
::
The first time she told me about the Daughters of the Revolution and the First Ladies, I did some research. Turns out that Hillary Clinton is the only First Lady I could find who wasn't a descendant of a DAR.
This entire email was illuminating, craig. Loved it where you first posted it, and loved reading it here.
When I read this, I go back to Yogo's observation from over a year ago:
IF Obama wins, it really will turn White Supremacy on its head.
NOT because a Black man won.
But, because a Black woman will be in the White House...
and she didn't have to sneak in the back entrance to do it.
Actually, considering the history of interracial sex in the US, there is probably no way to tell if Michelle is a descendant or not. I found out at a family reunion a few years ago that I am a very distant relative of one of the pre-Revolution governors of Virginia. I think it would be a hoot if they found out that Michelle has a revered great-great-great-great-great-great granddaddy.
Go figure.
Hillary isn't dainty either.
Well, if I have to be a one woman campaign, I am going to be. They are about to catch hell from DUH-DUH-DUH (scary music) Teacher.
Serenity, now..........***Ommmmm..***
John probably twisted her arm when she said something he didn't wanna hear.
She's baiting us too.
Beware.
I'd like to be a fly on the wall when these editors sit in their offices and decide to run with this shit. Does glee color their faces when they decide the slickest way to try to tear these beautiful human beings down just because they can't get over their sick, sick fantasies?
And that's what this is all about. The fantasies these terrible human beings have about the beautiful Black people they claim they don't know . Sometimes those fantasies are all about sex. Sometimes they are about violence. Often, they are about both.
"I don't know if I want to fuck them or kill them."
That is the conflict these terrible human beings face every time they look at a beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated, responsible, self-actualized Black person. Make no mistake. They believe their fantasies so deeply, so THOROUGHLY, these terrible people are left with but two highly charged reactions.
Fuck or kill.
Since most of these terrible people will never get a chance to do either, they substitute venom like this to allow them the chance to feel the rush.
These terrible people are diseased. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually diseased.
We might consider removing the word "racist" from our lexicon. Even though true, it's too loaded. Gives people an excuse to dismiss the complaints of the complainer.
These people are diseased. And they need help.
The goal is to bait us. They want us to be very angry. The article is typical passive aggressive nastiness.
I have a very low opinion of reporters. Frankly, I expected worse by this time. I suppose they're all holding back until late September / early October.
If (and I hope when) he becomes President, Obama is not getting a honeymoon with the media. They will criticize (and denigrate) before he's even sworn in.
too deep.
too deep.
I need this election to be over, for Barack to be elected in a landslide, and for all these idiots to just get over it.
I seem to be in a state of blinding rage ALL. THE. TIME. These morons are afraid of Michelle---but they really should be terrified of me.
And, Anovelista, I am such a huge Diana Sands fan--then, now, and forever. Thanks for giving her some props.
I am as disappointed with the National Association of Black Journalists as I am with that motley crew at the CBC.
'beside themselves'.
I have to add though that some of the quoted lines didn't strike me the way they struck you. I read certain lines, such as, "what does she have to be angry about" to be sarcastically rhetorical, not earnest. I think that the author was confused. On the one hand I thought she meant, at times, to illustrate the absurdity of castigating Michelle for being "too black," but she was terrible at expressing this illustration effectively, making her look just as racist as the people she thought she was poking at... much like the oval office New Yorker cover illustration, which was supposed to be satire but failed. Or that art exhibit in New York that called the weeMichelles nappy headed hos in one room and had a huge black penis on the wall in another room. The author made too many assumptions and was too sloppy, resulting in a big crash and burn. Like when she talked about acting black and acting white - I think she meant to call those terms into question, but because she didn't know what the hell she was doing, her afterthought, "whatever that adjective means nowadays" was completely ineffective and exposed stupidity instead of critical thinking.
Of course it didn't help that many of her statements could not have even been reasonably mistaken for sarcasm, irony, or any other literary device - they were just stupid, and made the author look even more stupid. For example the "n-word, just to make a point," foolishness. This leaves me wondering what was going on with her editor, too.
It has a list and profile of Republicans who have endorsed him and voters and their stories. It's like a site within a site.
Actually, I think they have re-vamped the whole site.
D....I think he's trying to send you a couple of hints. That's ok. You still have a little time.
I've never seen anything like it.
Found this link at Politicalinaction.com
Now It’s The Post Covering Up John McCain’s Mob Connections
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?...
I was watching the Jamaican sprinters.
His mother's reaction got me. She couldn't believe it either!
I was like, YEAH!!!
One more to go!!!
Obviously, the author has not seen Barbara Bush.
Explains why Bush, Sr. cheated on her ass, too.
He still is.
WE MUST "SCHOOL" THEM.
Fucking unbelievable.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO LET THEM KNOW THAT WE ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THIS LEVEL OF INSULT?
To me, this warrants some sort of emergency action. I feel like calling Oprah to ask her to put a show together. I feel like picketing outside of the HQ of the New Yorker or marching on washington. I feel like circulating a petition calling for the termination of the person who wrote the article. Are we just going to roll with it?
Lets brainstorm on some actions that can be taken! Please!
It's bait.
Flea Market? Really? Uggghhhh!
Updating with this quote: "Her voice is pitched in the range of Tila Tequila."
They are comparing her to a much criticized bi-sexual reality show host and internet "model". Why would Tila Tequila even come to mind when describing Michelle?
I'm looking at this latest fish wrapper, and I'm getting a Huey Newton/Angela Davis vibe.
These people just ... won't ... quit. Where is the National Association of Black Journalists?
Now there's the million-dollar question. Except for Bob Herbert and Roland Martin, all I'm hearing is crickets chirping...meaning those guys have to dance to the tune of their employers or get fired. Very few Field Negroes in that bunch...
Who comprises the NABJ anyway? Can bloggers be members?
This is their website. I'm going to email them and ask for their support when I get back from work.
And then they get pissed because we bloggers are doing the heavy lifting of reporting REAL news, and scooping their asses, thereby making them look foolish.
That's why you're not getting any replies, but they're the first to play the race card regarding their media assignments.
I know women like Michelle Obama - single and married. In fact, most professional married Black women I know had a relative take care of their child even when they had the means to have a nanny.
I don't care what ANYONE says but the REAL problem with Michelle Obama for people who REFUSE to see her as a person, an individual, a human being, a woman, is that she is not a "Halle Berry" type. NO offense at all to Halle Berry (who turned 42 yesterday and I love, love, love because she was the very first person that I ever interviewed). It is not the fault of lighter-skinned women that that is the perception, but it is there.
I want to close with two quotes that apply to Michelle Obama and most Black women from one of my favorite actresses, the late great Diana Sands.
Race is not the only problem I have. I have all the problems of a woman, of a person, of a citizen. I know certain things about life that have nothing to do with color. Things that I want to express.
Also, Sands told the New York Times in 1967:
"The Negro female has been categorized as a neuter, a mammy, an exotic. Why isn't she a mother, a wife, a woman, a desirable object, a woman desired and feminine, someone who embodies all the characteristics of American womanhood? "
I'll tell you what's wrong--that's the racists' and sexists' worst nightmare. They can't stand that she's an embodiment of the American dream they can NEVER emulate. Those stereotypes that swaddle their limp egos have been yanked, and they are laid bare. They don't have the stones; they can only find some to throw at her. And hey--she is BETTER than they. As is her husband.
They all know it, too. And they can't stand it.
Isn't it interesting how all of these "objective" articles mention in passing that Michelle allegedly said "whitey" in a speech, yet NEVER clarify that she did not?
Remember, that lie was already proven wrong even though it barely got any play:
Why Does the Michelle Obama Rumor Tape Match a 2006 Novel?
What is meant by that statement; does it imply he corrected his "blackness" by marrying a Black Woman?
I want to give up on this foolishness, but I know I'm required to be ever vigilant now. It is not going to let up, even after Obama's inauguration and the Obamas are installed in the White House. These racial numbnuts must really fear that electing a Black Man to the Highest Office in the Land will spell the end of the bigoted life as they now know it.
Who comes up with ideas like this fish wrapper cover and think we won't get pissed off by it? They need to quit asking the House Negroes for advice, since the House Negroes have no insight into Black America because they're too busy running away from it.
If that's the case, Harold Ford should have smooth sailing, now that he's married to Snowflake ((rolls eyes and spits)).
If his granparents and mama had raised him ' right, then, OF COURSE, he'd be married to Snowflake.
"Why didn't he marry a sistah?"
"I guess he think he WHITE."
Now if that isn't some sick shyt, I don't know what is.
Sometimes...the best thing you can do for rabid dogs...is PUT THEM OUT OF THEIR MISERY.
"Screw the election. I'm going to tell all of you what I think of you. Since I'm going alphabetically, first up: Bill Clinton. Right after him, Cokie Roberts".
They have a strength that humbles me.
Anyway, I would love to here you flesh out that idea about the grandparents as soon as possible. I would do it myself, but since I never though of the issue in those terms until I read it here, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.
Since we know these folks much better than they will ever know us we should try predicting the stories and angles they will come up with next about the Obamas.
Again, fascinating.
I hate bullshit like this. Really? Is that how you think Black people largely refer to each other in a formal setting?
I hate getting slapped in the face continually by people who THINK THEY KNOW US, but constantly show that they don't. They are content to opine about us out of sheer IGNORANCE, and never question their assumptions or beliefs about who we are or how we act.
Where is the expose on the McCain marriage? The edgy angle could be, "The Politics of Marriages Formed Through Adultery."
If the author of this crap believes that racism is over in America, then WTH did they write this article, about race, in the first place??
You would think a GOP, conservative leaning magazine would publish something like this, but this is a LIBERAL MAGAZINE!
No1KState
herecomethatgirl.blogspot.com
;-)
All I can say is, this is such a passively aggressive piece of wrapping on a pile of sh*t. There is no way an article about a Jewish couple or the McCains or the Huckabees could be written with such contempt and snobbery. Hell ....racism.
I read the article in it's entirety. It is highly subjective and full of inconsistencies. She is a typical, narcissistic , racist white person who doesn't know that she doesn't know. I couldn't find any campaign contributions in her name, but she has written articles for Cannabis News, so that also explains some things. She has definitely had her share of insults from her peers. Here's one that doesn't attack her looks:
Best Vanessa Grigoriadis Retread
Tie: "Girls Gone Wild" and "Hey, There’s a Yoga Craze!"
This just in! Sex parties all the rage. It’s easy to have a crush on Vanessa Grigoriadis. We certainly did for a while. She’s mysterious and sexy, and she writes breathlessly about sexy subjects. In 1998, when she was just 25, her first major New York magazine piece was a flashy cover story about New York publicists. It read like a movie, so it was no surprise that the film rights Sony quickly bought for a reported $400,000. Wow, we thought, here was a young writer with verve to spare who cashed in right away.
Then we started to hate Grigoriadis because all of her magazine features sounded like movie scripts. Whether she was reporting on nightlife or Silicon Alley creative types, every story was a chance to update St. Elmo’s Fire or Less Than Zero. We couldn’t imagine that anyone would want to buy a story about New York bouncers or the founders of stupid shit like Feed, so we didn’t imagine she’d ever sell anything else to Hollywood. Maybe, we thought, she’d become just another one-trick magazine writer.
We worry that she’s tired of even being that. In 1999, Grigoriadis wrote about the growing popularity of yoga for New York, and followed it with a post-Sept. 11 story about yoga’s new importance. Then, when she essentially replaced Alex Kuczynski at the Times’ Sunday Styles section this year, she quickly settled in and wrote a piece about…yoga.
Despite spending so much time doing yoga and writing about yoga, Grigoriadis also turned out saucier pieces, like the features about Girls Gone Wild founder Joseph Francis that ran in both Rolling Stone and Radar.
The not-so-young-anymore Grigoriadis may simply be an opportunistic writer with a rare talent for reselling her work, but what if she’s just plain run out of ideas? Or what if she doesn’t want to write anymore? The New York Post reported in January that she was attending Harvard Divinity School. What if she takes her skills and becomes, oh please help us, a religious leader? Who’s going to be there when we want to read about feuds in the Hamptons or about club promoters doing cocaine or about a bunch of models who live in the same house and compete for the same jobs and men?
We don’t know, but we’re not worried. If she ever leaves, um, journalism, for something else, she’ll always know how to find a good publicist.
I don't know how to say that I admire the strength and dignity that I have read here, seen in the Obamas and beyond during this time. I don't know if I would be half as restrained. I have a lot of respect and a lot of sadness that we have to live the way we do.
I'm sorry. I can't read this article. I've read your excerpts from it, and your commentary, and that's quite enough for me.
No.
So why address it?
And FYI, there are journalists who are bloggers, but bloggers can be journalists only if they are developing leads, researching, interviewing, writing ledes and good copy, editing, fact checking. That means we've narrowed the field quite a bit. So CPL get off NABJ's ass. They're part of the solution, not the damn problem.