A True Fable that might help DUers better understand the Michelle Obama comment"

[EffieBlack]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm going to try one more time to help people better understand where Michelle Obama was coming from and why I feel so strongly that, instead of attacking her as "ungrateful" or "unpatriotic" or "inexperienced," that people will make an effort to empathathize with her point of view - a point of view that is shared by many, many, many other minorities in this country. And even if you can't empathasize with her, it would be nice if you would at least try to understand that her point of view is a valid one and refrain from any further attacks on her character and patriotism.

Close your eyes (well, not yet, since you still have a lot to read)

Imagine you're a 12-year-old black girl who, during a weekend sleepover at the home of a white friend, goes with her and her family to the movies to see "Gone With the Wind."

You get caught up in all of the drama - Scarlett is so beautiful, Rhett is so dashing, Mammy is so funny, Prissy is so stupid. Mammy and Prissy make you uncomfortable and a little embarrassed - since you don't know any black people who talk or behave that way and you hope that your friends don't think that you do - but you brush it off, ignore your feelings and sink yourself back into the story. You live every second with Scarlett and Rhett. You leave the theater with your friends, repeating the lines, sashaying and batting your eyes like a little brown Scarlett, arguing over which one of you would be most attractive to Rhett, and agreeing that Scarlett DEFINITELY won him back after the closing credits.

You go home and tell your mother and father all about the wonderful movie you saw. And as you tell them the plot, they look more and more uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to you, they have a little private, hushed conversation, in which they debate whether to tell you the truth about the movie - "She's still so young. Why ruin it for her?" your dad says, hoping he had just a little more time before he had to start breaking his little girl's heart. Mom won - "She needs to learn the truth."

So, when you bring up the movie again at dinner - complete with your almost perfected Scarlett accent - they tell you that they've seen the movie. And then they tell you what it's REALLY about . . .

Mammy and Prissy weren't faithful servants. They were slaves. Chattal. Owned by Scarlett. They weren't there because they were so devoted to "Miz Scarlett." They were there because her father had bought their ancestors and, of course, got to keep his offspring. Notice that Mammy doesn't seem to have a family of her own? Her husband and maybe her children may have been sold away for one reason or another. Of course, we don't know. The inner lives of the slaves was irrelevant to the book or the movie since it didn't involve Miz Scarlett.

And the "raid" that got Frank Kennedy killed and Ashley so heroically wounded? It was a lynch mob, formed for the purpose of defending the honor of Southern white womanhood against the uppity darkies (the more polite of the labels they used) who would besmirch it. And Ashley and Frank and the rest weren't a simple group of chivalrous Southern gentlemen. They were the Ku Klux Klan.

What does the 12-year-old black girl do with that? How does she face her friends at school, knowing that they will still want to talk about the dashing Rhett and his beautiful Scarlett, when all she could think about was whatever happened to Prissy's father? Did Mammy have any other children? What was Mammy's real name? And why didn't anyone seem to care?

How does this 12-year-old black girl go along with the longing and "pride" that her friends feel about living in a country with such a rich and romantic history - a history that she knows was woven with the fear, violence, danger, and horror of her own ancestors? Does she tell them that Scarlett and Rhett and Frank and Dr. Meade and the others really weren't all that noble and they certainly aren't people she wants to emulate? Or does she keep her mouth shut and quietly endure the pain of knowing that history isn't quite what the movie made it seem, that what might invoke pride in some triggers pain in others. Her, especially.

And when that girl grows up and is told that she is supposed to be proud of her country because of its rich history, and try as she might, she can't quite feel unencumbered pride because she knows too much, should she just smile and pretend that she really does feel more pride than pain so that others who DO feel pure, unblemished, unqualified pride in that history - however misplaced it may be - don't feel uncomfortable and don't accuse her of being anti-American? Or does she speak her mind, try to educate those who just don't understand (but in whom she has faith that they will get it if it's explained to them clearly), even if it means putting up with attacks by people who don't even bother to try to understand where she might be coming from?

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Imagine this Jewish girl, who saw Jewish teachers fired in Brownsville

Not in history books, but in my lifetime. And it wasn't over qualifications ... and it wasn't pretty. So please, we don't understand each other and Michelle had no business bleeding in the campaign.

[tabatha]

3. That has not turned you into a very tolerant person of people

who make verbal gaffes.
It was an innocent gaffe.

Not like the person who recently introduced Hillary, in what was a vile diatribe about Obama instead of being a promotion of Hillary. That was not innocent at all.

[Fredda Weinberg]

31. We were all innocent once. When did I become guilty of intolerance?

I live in a majority minority neighborhood by choice and comfortably so. Who says I'm not tolerant?

[Yael]

10. This Jewish woman says, "I hear Michelle, and I hear EffieBlack" and i agree.

YMMV

[elleng]

52. Ditto

.

[NJObamaWoman]

20. Imagine this little black girl living in the suburbs in the 90's.....

going to a white friends house for her birthday party and being told that I couldn't come in because I was a "N" by the father. Crying and having no way to reach my mom, I wondered around my town until a police officer took me home. I was 6 years of age and from that time on my mom NEVER let me go to other (white) classmates parties or even go into their houses after school until I was well into my teenage years. Darling we all have our stories. :( This is why I and my family feels the same way Mrs. Obama does.

[EffieBlack]

21. What a terrible experience

It's a shame that people don't have more empathy for the history and experiences that give rise to exactly the feelings that Michelle was expressing.

I have found that most African Americans I know love this country, but don't feel all that proud of it in general. Sort of like a parent who has a child who's always screwing up, even if, from time to time, they do something right. They love them, but aren't particularly proud of them.

[NJObamaWoman]

23. If you think thats horrible think about my mom.

She dropped me off along with other mothers who dropped their children off in front of the house. We (children) went to the back of the house because it was in their backyard and mins later the father pulls me aside, walks me to the front and tells me I have to leave because they don't want any "N" in their house. I was a child and didn't understand the N word. I asked if I could call my mom or my aunt but he said NO and left. I didn't know my way home since I lived in a different area and plus I was only 6 years old. Thank God a fellow church member who happened to be on duty as a cop found me and brought me home. Oh it was bad that night my family was pissed especially my mom. I still remember my mom heading for her police gun and my family members telling my mom not too kill that man. She slaved day and night to protect American citizens, was a single parent who never received child support or took welfare. She moved us to the Burbs just to give me a better way of life instead of living in the city with terrible school systems. Yet she was still slapped back to reality that she was BLACK! That didn't change the way I felt about white people growing up or my friend who invited me to her party. But it just made me distant and alittle less trusting.

I agree with you EffieBlack. Most AA's don't hate this country we just want better. We want to feel in our heart of hearts that we are accepted and can get a fair shake of things. That people have moved beyond the color of our skins. I mean even Chris Rock talked about it in his comedy special just after 9'11 about how many Americans were screaming that they were proud to be Americans and screw those foreign bastards....then its screw the arabs....(Chris) "then I started to listen to what they were saying because I knew it was only a matter of time before they said Screws Blacks".

MO was saying what I felt. I was happy to see whites, latinos, asians, old, and young vote for Obama in many of these states. I was proud because these people could look past the color of his skin. I remember my own racism when I went to an Obama headquarters in NJ and saw white people. I was shocked and thought to myself why are all these white people supporting this black man. This is unusual.


In my post I try to talk about my experiences in America so I hope people aren't alarmed about this. What I say is from the heart and truly not meant to offend anyone.

[David Zephyr]

68. It's for posts like yours and EffieBlacks that make coming to the DU worthwhile.

I can not tell you how much your comments and those by Effie in her thread have moved me.

Make no mistake, there are tens of millions of Americans who understood where Michelle's good heart was and what she was really saying.

I stand with Michelle proudly 24/7.

[Fredda Weinberg]

32. And I won't deny your reality. Mrs Obama appears to ignore mine

But the Bakke decision split the Democratic Party ... let that be a warning now as old wounds are carelessly re-opened. Not yours, darling - you remind me of the little boy in the '68 who threw a shoe in my head because MLK had been assassinated.

Now, what did I have to do with that? Was that worse than wandering the streets? Dunno ... but if you don't want to see children excluded from someone else's home ... I want to avoid a repeat of violence in the streets.

Have a great life. Mine, in East Flatbush during the 60's, was a lot tougher.

[casus belli]

37. I am more victim than you? This isn't a path any reasonable person would choose to go down. n/t

[Emit]

38. How does Mrs Obama appear to ignore yours?

sincere question so I can better understand what you mean here

[cali]

43. How do you know your life was a lot tougher?

You damned well don't. And by making that claim, you show a lack of empathy and a sorry determination to play the victim. It's just sad.

[sniffa]

67. She doesn't

More modesty, and claims of martyrdom. :eyes:

Oh, and did she mention that she lives amongst blacks, and one black hit her with a shoe, and that Obama is making her time living with blacks that much tougher for her, and that Obama scowls, and his children suck. Oh, and did you see his wife dance? I'll reserve comment.

[noiretextatique]

45. wow...you're obviously the victim of the century

:applause: given that a shoe was thrown at your head in 1968

[casus belli]

36. OMG. That's terrible!

I'm sorry you had to endure such small minded people when you were a little girl. How anyone could be so callous towards someone else, particularly a CHILD, is absolutely beyond me. Racism is an ugly enough crime. When it's taught to, or exposed to children, it takes on a whole new level of evil.

[IronLionZion]

69. Is this what you are talking about? The 1968 AFT teacher strike in Brooklyn?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Federation_of_Teachers#Ocean_Hill-Brownsville_strike

Tell us about it. (Read: tell me about it) I'm interested in your experience. Hopefully you can do this without belittling anyone else's experience.

[Horse with no Name]

2. This sounds like you have seen "A Time To Kill" one too many times

very similar to Matthew McConaughey's closing argument to the jury.

[donheld]

39. The sad thing is

There's probably thousands and thousands of stories similar to "A Time To Kill," NJObamawoman and Effie's stories. Those things happened all over the country an too few of us acknowledge those facts.

[LisaL]

4. Well, it might be a minor point, but Prissy was not Mammy's

daughter.

[EffieBlack]

6. Actually, she was

But it is a minor point.

[LisaL]

7. Nope.

She wasn't.

[EffieBlack]

9. You're right - I was mistaken.

[ingac70]

5. What bother dissecting her comment.?

Only jingoistic weirdos give two shits and twist what she said.

[EffieBlack]

8. This isn't directed to jingoistic weirdos, but to the people who really want to understand but are

having difficulty with it.

[ingac70]

24. Difficulty with what?

She said it was the first time she was "really" proud, not that it was the first time she was proud.

This county has done alot to not be proud of. Big hairy damn deal.

[EffieBlack]

26. Some well-meaning people are really have trouble understanding where she's coming from

I'm trying to provide some context.

And you're right.

[jackson_dem]

29. She made two speeches. In one she said it was the first time she is proud

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Leopolds Ghost]

61. OH THE IRONY! A Dem who reveres MASS MURDERER ANDREW JACKSON asking how she could not be proud

Of a country that reveres and enshrines Stalinesque RW populist mass
murderers like Andrew Jackson TO THIS DAY because their enemies were
"another color".

[Yael]

11. Brava.

Well stated.

K&R

[David Zephyr]

66. Great post indeed, Yael.

And you aren't so bad yourself, either. :hi:

[madrchsod]

12. there are some here that will never get it

and others who agree what she was talking about. it`s a waste of your energy to worry about those who will never understand. you know and that is all that really matters.

[EffieBlack]

15. I'm not trying to help anyone who doesn't want to understand - they'r ehopeless

I'm directing these posts to well-meaning people who really are trying to learn and understand but don't often get the chance to hear a different perspective.

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. :-)

[NOLALady]

53. You're a paitent woman, Effie.

:-)

[Psyop Samurai]

57. Your attitude in that regard is inspiring...

I generally don't have the patience.

This is the second remarkable OP of yours I've read today.

Ironically, I think that Ms. Obama's "gaffe" is pure fabrication, as Terri S points out below, but I have appreciated hearing your perspective nonetheless.

[Beausoir]

13. She had better toughen up and get used to alot more of where that came from.

She willingly chose to do this and she is going to get savaged.

That's the way it goes.

We know she can dish it out. Let's see her take it.

[EffieBlack]

17. I have no doubt that she can take it - this isn't about her

I'm trying to educate folks who are supposedly on our side.

[fortyfeetunder]

14. K&R

Tell it like it is Effie!

[Raine]

16. Good post

:thumbsup: I don't understand why so many don't seem to get it or take offense, that's very depressing. :-(

Edit: spelling

[TheDoorbellRang]

18. Thanks, Effie

beautifully put. K&R

[smalll]

19. So let me get this straight. You're saying that Michelle was so traumatized by seeing a movie -

("Gone With The Wind," in fact) that she couldn't help but make that gaffe?

[EffieBlack]

22. Sigh. No that's not what I'm saying at all

It's really too bad that this went right over your head - you probably could have benefitted from the point I made.

[I Vote In Pittsburgh]

25. "True Fable"

Isn't that... like... an oxymoron? :shrug:

[woolldog]

27. Good post

:thumbsup:

[jackson_dem]

28. Has Michelle Obama stated racism is the reason she wasn't proud of the US?

There is a lot of speculation and spinning going on to try to justify, or mitigate what she said. Is there anything from her to indicate racism is the reason she wasn't proud of the country until Barack Obama became the Democratic front runner for the nomination?

[noiretextatique]

44. most likely

racism is the reason why i didn't feel american until i visited another country. and i am still not "proud" of america, not even with obama running for president. i don't think pride is a requirement of citizenship.
as for michelle obama, she should understand that her statements will be scrutinized.

[lligrd]

30. I Only Hope That One Day I Can Be Proud Of Our Country

like when I was a child and didn't know better. To heck with her trying to explain the comment. She is right. There are plenty of reasons not to be proud of America. In fact, most countries have little to be proud of.

[Leopolds Ghost]

63. Considering that people in the country WILL kill anyone who goes against the corporate line like RFK

Or questions peoples' reverence for torturers or mass murderers
(a weakness shared by many nations, they make good leaders apparently?)

She's endangering herself by even questioning her own patriotism.

There have always been two Americas, and one of them is righteous and just
and the other an evil influence.

This is better than most countries that do not have ANYTHING to be
proud of in their history of public life save for the spirits of
an eternally oppressed people...or worse, the willing acquescence of same
to an authoritarian system... which describes most of the world.

[JMDEM]

34. I haven't been very proud of this country since... 1963?

Vietnam. The draft. Watergate. The Reagan rip-off years. The Contras. Learning about how we trained torturers in the "School of the Americas". Bush I. Bush II. The military industrial complex taking half the tax pie while so many Americans suffer in so many ways. And of course gross racism and intolerance.

I fully understand how and why Michelle said what she said.

HOWEVER... certain things are absolutely out of bounds in terms of political survival. Even approaching them can mean political suicide. You cannot "dis" America and get elected. Period. This doesn't mean it is right or wrong -- just the way it is. Cobras are beautiful animals. But you don't pet them. Great white sharks are wonders of evolution. But you don't swim with them.

ALL Dems need to be aware of this in the upcoming election cycle. If you want to win, don't "dis" America. It's political suicide. We need to phrase things correctly -- such as "America is the greatest country on earth, but it could be so much greater than it is if we..."

It's genetic. It's instinctive. It's the survival mechanism. The same rule would apply in Mexico, Colombia, France, Norway, Egypt, Isreal, India, Australia, or just about anywhere if you were running for office in any of those countries.

[Apollo11]

46. Michelle never said that she does not love America

Either she feels proud of her country or she does not.

Why criticize a person for how they honestly feel? :eyes:

[NOLALady]

35. I didn't see GWTW until I was grown.

Everyone at work told me how it was such a great love story. I was so excited because I think everyone in the world had seen this movie except me. I got my popcorn and settled down to be thoroughly entertained.

I was not in the least prepared for that movie. Heavens! It was painful.

What was even more painful, my clueless co workers could not understand why I did not share their love of this movie. I tried to explain, but it was no use. :loveya:

[donheld]

40. Kick Recommended and Bookmarked

Thanks for sharing Effie.

[eridani]

41. Langston Hughes on this subject

I'll bet either Obama could give a great dramatic reading of this--

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Hughes-America-Again1938.htm

Let America be America Again

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

http://www.ericblumrich.com/pax.html

Mindfully.org note: Please view the Flash animation created by Eric Blumrich centered on Hughes' powerful poem of America

[NOLALady]

55. Thanks for reminding me of Langston Hughes poem.

It should be required reading for everyone who does not understand Michelle's words.



O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

[mythyc]

42. This is a very difficult topic that spurs strong feelings on both sides

I teach it my college freshman English class and I have to say that what you're talking about strikes deeply for everyone who actually thinks about it conscientiously, and all the more so for those who live that reality like minority students who have had firsthand experience all their lives of the political process and social system either oppressing or opposing them every step of the way. Yet they also greatly appreciate the opportunities of this country, the history and enactment of its discourse, the faith in a greater future. I'm digressing, but wanted to put my two cents in, seeing both sides yet hesitant to qualify either completely at least without recognition of the other.

[Maribelle]

47. Michelle misspoke.

Any attempt to further justify her error merely denigrates the issue that she just misspoke.

[Terri S]

48. A more complete quote of what Michelle said...

"What we've learned over this year is that hope is making a come-back. It is making a comeback, and let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because, I think, people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction, and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues and it's made me proud. And I feel privileged to be a part of even witnessing this, traveling around states all over this country and being reminded that there is more that unites us than divides us. That the struggles of a farmer in Iowa are no different than what's happening on the south side of Chicago. That people are feeling the same pain and wanting the same things for their families."

She was talking about the pride in seeing Americans become involved politically and wanting to come together to solve the problems that effect everyone.

This isn't the first time Michelle's words have been taken out of context to push a false story. If you'll recall, way back, she said 'If you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House'. The media jumped all over that one sentence and tried to say it was a hit against Hillary Clinton. Remember? Well, the full quote, that (surprise, surprise) no one in the media bothered to mention, showed what total bs that was...

" That one of the most important things that we need to know about the next President of the United States is, is he somebody that shares our values? Is he somebody that respects family? Is a good and decent person? So our view was that, if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House. So, so we've adjusted our schedules to make sure that our girls are first, so while he's traveling around, I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off, I go and do trips, I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere, but they don't care. They just know that I was at home to tuck them in at night, and it keeps them grounded, and, and children, the children in our country have to know that they come first. And our girls do and that's why we're doing this. We're in this race for not just our children, but all of our children."

This is just more of the same. It's a shame Michelle had to 'clarify' what she said the next day because what she said originally needed no clarification if it had been actually reported in its entirety.

[Carolina]

50. Thank you, Terri S

This smear of Michelle Obama has been a bullshit, non-story from the start.

I am printing this out so I can show some bone heads I know the FULL quote in it's FULL context.

:hi:

[Psyop Samurai]

58. BINGO !! .nt

[Clark2008]

49. Imagine that you knew more about the South...

Then some of your statements wouldn't be so incorrect.

No... I am in no way, shape or form defending slavery. That's vile. But, please learn some history.

[DemVet]

51. We know where she was coming from...

....SHE WAS NOT PROUD. You can't try to interpret her feelings or her message. End of story. She f___ed up....badly.

[EffieBlack]

54. Only among people who think that it's crazy for a black woman to not feel "proud" of America

and I doubt many people with that point of view would vote for her husband anyway.

[Bake]

56. So, I'm confused. But I don't think you can have it both ways.

Take your pick: It's either (1) NOT about race, because BHO transcends race and is uniting all Americans; or (2) it IS about race and we owe it to BHO to elect him in order to atone for what SOMEBODY'S great great grandfather (not mine, of course) did 250 years ago. Which is it?

I guess Michele wasn't proud when whites and blacks marched together as brothers and sisters with Dr. King.

But I was. Oh wait. That's a baby boomer thing, and us boomers are just supposed to STFU and "get over ourselves." Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Bake

[EffieBlack]

60. Or maybe it's neither ABOUT race or NOT ABOUT race but race is just a part of everyone & everythin

we do in this country, whether we admit it or not?

It's ridiculous - but very common - for people to try to force African-Americans (and other minorities and women) into one box or another. They must either be ALL ABOUT RACE or they must completely TRANSCEND race. (What does it mean to transcend race anyway? I think it means that we don't ever do, say or even think anything that might remind white people that we have some awareness of and pride in our own race. I have never once heard a white politician praised for "transcending" their race - perhaps because people don't see whiteness as anything that must be transcended, while blackness is an affliction that must be "transcended" in order for its bearer to be accepted as just a person).

And I think it's really nice that seeing "whites and blacks marhing together as brothers and sisters with Dr. King" made you really proud. It made me proud, too. Proud of the people who were doing it. But it made me even more ashamed of this country that it had to be done in the first place, that we had to work this hard just to get basic rights that other Americans took for granted.

Yes, I was proud of those people. But I was horrified and repulsed when those people got the crap beaten out of them, had dogs sicced on them, had fire hoses turned on them, were shot, blown up, and burned out - often by (or at least under the protection of) the very same government I'm supposed to feel so proud of.

I love this country. But I have not always been proud of it. And I haven't been proud of it PRECISELY because I love it - and I know it can do much better. The very fact that African-Americans have stuck it out, marched peacefully, worked quietly and continued to do everything we could to be a part of this country - and didn't burn it down to the ground and stamp it into smithereens - is more than enough proof of how we feel about thsis country.

So do not lecture me about what I should and should not be proud of. Feel however you want about whatever you want. But you have no standing to ever dictate to me or Michelle Obama or anyone else how we should feel about this country.

[applegrove]

59. I'll never look at Gone with the Wind the same way again. I liked it as

a teen but missed out on the cruel historical context.

[Leopolds Ghost]

62. I Totally Dispute The Entire Premise of your OP.

I am finding it hard to believe that in the 1940s / 1960s, when
Gone With the Wind was popular, when Michelle Obama was born,

A black girl would be invited over to a white friend's house to
go to the movies.

A black family friend recently confided in me that, although she and my
mom weren't especially close, my mom was the only white person she knew
in my town (one of the most liberal towns in America,
where many, many leftie Dem machine types live)
who let her white kid (me) stay over with her kids, and vice versa.

So I question the premise.

I also question the veracity of your argument in defense of
Michelle's statement -- I don't believe it goes far enough.

Michelle is quite right not to be proud of the part of America
that reveres six-shooters, Indian killers, lynch mobs, bleached
white soccer moms who talk of forcing poor black mothers into the
workplace and mandating them to buy a house and insurance and
money for catholic school in blue urban areas
but won't let their kids stay over for dinner, and Ronald Reagan.

[EffieBlack]

64. You have absolutely no basis on which to dispute my OP

Do you really think that not one single black child was ever invited to spend the night with a white family before the 1970s?

Just because a black person that you know once told you that your mother was the only person she knew who allowed such things, the experience was more prevalent than you seem to realize. Black people have wide and varied experiences throughout our lives and histories, so this one particular person's experience is not necessarily reflective of the lives of all black people.

[NOLALady]

70. Unbelievable, huh?

Someone could actually base the entire black experience on the experience of one black family.

[David Zephyr]

65. A most powerful read from EffieBlack.

I am bookmarking your very moving OP, Effie.

And I am kicking and recommending this straight to The Greatest page with pride.

You are a very good writer, by the way.

Great respect for you today.

--DZ

[EffieBlack]

71. Thank you, David - I really appreciate that

That's a real compliment coming from you!