Ghetto Girl

Joni L. Reynolds, an African-American mother, writes a blog called Ebony Mom Politics. Here's one of her posts.




"Many blacks from Oak Bluffs are elated that the Only One- in-Chief may be joining them. "People are going to lose their minds!" Tonya Lewis Lee says.

At the same time, there's also a bit of wariness among the wealthiest ones, an uncertainty whether Obama will affirm them. "Obama is more a man of the people," says a Vineyarder who's part of black high society. "He doesn't seem to identify with affluent black people. His wife definitely doesn't; she is basically a ghetto girl. That's what she says--I'm just being sociological. She grew up in the same place Jennifer Hudson did. She hasn't reached out to the social community of Washington, and people are waiting to see what they'll do about that." (New Yorker Magazine)

To call a Harvard lawyer a "ghetto girl" is absolutely ludicrous.

The dynamics of black society is very difficult to understand. We are probably the only race that has prejudices against other members of our own race. This anonymous member of the black elite simply said was what is said among her group.
If Mrs. Obama were light-skinned with hazel eyes maybe she might be a little more tolerable, even though she was raised on the wrong side of the track.

Here's as response to the post thst I thought worth sharing:

This is a really interesting piece. I am a historian and I study class, in particular classism within the black community. It is my belief that the black elite are a very insecure group of people. They are caught in between two worlds, the white world, which rejects them, and the black middle and working class, which they can't relate to. They are in so many ways a tragic group of people with no real community to call their own. E. Franklin Frazier's "The Black Bourgeoisie" explains it better than I can. And Lawrence Otis Graham's "Our Kind of People" is a revealing book that really speaks to this insecurity. I would recommend them both as good reads. The Obamas, secure and comfortable with themselves, don't need to be associated with the black elite. They have nothing in common with them. They are not out to prove anything to anybody. They are not trying to be white, nor are they embarrassed by their middle and working class brethren. They are who they are, take it or leave it. And they certainly are not tragic. So I guess that would mean, yes, Barack is "a man for the people" and in my opinion this is a good thing. Because if he was in bed with the black elite, how then would he be any different than GWB, who was in bed with the Texas elite? In regards to the comment about Michelle being a "ghetto girl" again this is a clear indication of how insecure and fragile the black elite is. This is merely testimony to how threatened they are by her. That this common woman form "the hood" is their first lady. That most likely if a black elite family had put in their bid for the white house (which I don't think they aspire to anyway), they would h ave not even made it past the Iowa Caucasus. And here is this "common man" with his "ghetto" wife who is not only accepted and loved by "the masses" but also accepted by the white community as well. A feat the black elite will NEVER master! It is pure jealousy and quite fascinating. Sad too.
Carla


Note:
The photo shows the first lady giving a speech at the Norfolk naval base to mark the return of the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USNS Comfort. The first lady wore a Talbots Swirl Cotton Dress in Sunset Orange, on sale for a very reasonable $38.99. Mrs. O accessorized with a vintage silk flower pin worn at the shoulder. She's my kind of "Ghetto Girl". You go girl!