TresSugar

Should the Media Stay Away From Michelle Obama's Heritage?

TresSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a piece on Michelle Obama's connection to slavery. Using old public records, fading photos, and recollections of older family members, the New York Times, along with genealogist Megan Smolenyak, uncovered details that fully connect the first lady to the history of slavery for the first time. While the piece was captivating, some worry that it was not appropriate.

The issue of race in America's past and present is undoubtedly a sensitive subject. Many Americans, including African-Americans, want to celebrate the Obamas' path to the White House, and the story about Michelle Obama's slave roots helps shed light on just how far our society has come. In addition, the fact that Michelle's great-great-great-grandfather was white might remind this diverse country that we share a common past. Yet other people feel that the independent piece on her heritage violates her privacy or focuses on her race when the Obamas have made it clear that they want to move past it.

The first lady has declined to comment on the article due to its personal nature. Now that Michelle Obama is first lady, is it fair for the public to take an interest in her genealogy, or was this piece in bad taste?

New York Times Traces First Lady's Slave Roots

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0700

The New York Times ran a captivating historical piece today about a six-year-old slave named Melvinia. The paper traces her family's five-generation journey from slavery to modern success.

It's a fascinating American story that just so happens to be part of first lady Michelle Obama's story, too. Using old public records, fading photos, and recollections of older family members, the New York Times, along with genealogist Megan Smolenyak, have uncovered Melvinia's story, which fully connects the first lady to the history of slavery for the first time.

To see an excerpt from the piece, read more.

In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475. In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of nearly two centuries.

In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, marked the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.

Melvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

To many, Michelle's family story powerfully represents African-American advancement. But her mixed background is also representative of Americans in general, as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explored in his definitive documentary on genealogy called African American Lives. A historian who discovered that he had black relatives when he researched his memoir tells the New York Times: "We’ve all mingled, and we have done so for generations."

Awkward! I'm Biracial and Get Asked: "What Are You?"

TresSugar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Thanks to a reader with an issue (sorry, reader!), we have an awkward scenario requiring your advice. (Have some awkward tales of your own? Join our Awkward! group to share etiquette questions and stories with other readers.)

"My father is Mexican-American and my mother is Chinese-American. Some people think I look 100 percent Chinese, others know I'm only part, but sometimes I wish people would just see me for me. I get uncomfortable when people ask me my ethnic background, and especially when they say, 'What are you?' I grew up in a small town where some racists said worse, so I appreciate positive curiosity, but is it ever polite to ask someone this question?"

Front Page: Obama Talks Race and Anger With Letterman

TresSugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:00:49 -0700

President Obama chatted about race and angry protesters last night with David Letterman, pointing out that he was "actually black before the election." - CBS
World leaders will meet to discuss climate change this week at the UN. - BBC
The number of foreign-born US residents has declined for the first time since 1970, as fewer immigrants come to America for job opportunities. - WSJ
More details are coming out still about John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter. - CNN

Student Fights For Right to Wear Confederate Clothes

TresSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

South Carolinian teen Candice Hardwick believes her freedom of speech was violated when school officials forced her to change her clothes and turn shirts inside out because they featured the Confederate emblem. Candice, whose state still flies the Confederate flag at the state house, was even suspended from her middle school for continuing to wear the controversial logo. A federal court ruled that the school district could prevent her from wearing the clothing, but now Candice is appealing the decision.

Candice's family says she's not celebrating a past of slavery and segregation; she just wanted to honor her heritage since her family members fought for the South during the Civil War. But for many people, this argument is a smokescreen. To them, the Confederate flag unequivocally represents nostalgia for a disgraceful past, and it's not incidental that the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups use this emblem to represent their views.

If the Confederate emblem is a loaded symbol everywhere, its racial repercussions couldn't be felt more than in Candice's school district, where schools were segregated until the 1970s and separate proms were held for blacks and whites well into the 1980s. Despite Candice's arguments, the lower court ruled that Confederate clothing could disrupt learning in racially diverse schools. We'll have to wait to find out what happens on appeal. Should public schools be able to ban students from wearing Confederate clothing?

Front Page: Carter: Angry Obama Opposition Based on Race

TresSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:00:48 -0700

Jimmy Carter says Rep. Joe Wilson's "you lie" outburst along with other angry opposition toward President Obama is based on racism. - MSNBC
Lab technician Ray Clark is released after providing DNA samples to police in the murder case of Yale student Annie Le. - CNN
The FDA has approved a swine flu vaccine that should arrive the first week of October. - AP
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports the idea of banning smoking in public parks and beaches. - New York Post
Runner Caster Semenya is placed on suicide watch. - Chicago Now

Say What: Maureen Dowd Gives a Shout Out to Congressman

TresSugar — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:44:44 -0700

"Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president - no Democrat ever shouted 'liar' at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq - convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it."

- New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd on Congressman from South Carolina Joe Wilson's shocking interjection of "You lie!" during President Obama's speech on health care. Dowd agrees with others who think that this breach in protocol and civility was an attempt to delegitimize him as the president - because he is black. Congressman Wilson, as it turns out, once spearheaded a campaign to keep the Confederate flag above South Carolina's state Capitol and denounced the black woman who stepped forward and said she was Strom Thurmond's daughter. (She was.) Wilson has since apologized and the President has accepted his apology, but he's now a sort of folk hero for those who don't like the president, and "You lie!" bumper stickers abound. What do you think of that outburst and its significance?

Kids Are Blind to the Notion of a Colorblind Society

TresSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Well-intentioned parents who want their kids to grow up in a colorblind world avoid discussing race. But a new study involving white families reveals that when parents keep quiet about skin color, young children will discriminate based on race.

The findings from the Children's Research Lab at the University of Texas are featured in this week's Newsweek. Here's an example of how researchers gauge the children's attitudes about race:

Asked how many white people are mean, these children commonly answered, "Almost none." Asked how many blacks are mean, many answered, "Some," or "A lot." Even kids who attended diverse schools answered the questions this way.

The researchers then asked parents to discuss interracial friendship with their children every night for a week straight. When the kids came back to be questioned again, almost none of the opinions changed. Only six of the children dramatically improved their racial attitudes. What was it about these children? The researchers found that every family, except for these six, avoided talking explicitly about race. Instead, they sent their kids the vague message that "everybody is equal." To find out why parents tended to be so vague, read more.

The study suggested that parents are reluctant to discuss race because they worry that such an education passes on society's tendency to classify people based on the color of their skin. But it seems that even if an adult never mentions race, kids can be prone to favor people who look similar to themselves. Thus, staying silent about skin color might not be the best way to go.

Do you think it's possible to move toward a "colorblind" society, or will we always have to deal with openly with race?

Microsoft Changes Race in Photo, Then Apologizes

TresSugar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0700

If you're going to change someone's race on your corporate website (which you shouldn't!), you might want to do a better job with the Photoshop. Microsoft got itself in a bit of trouble when its Polish-based unit altered a photo on its website by replacing a black man's face with that of a white man's but forgetting to change the color of the man's hand.

Microsoft's US web site had the original photo of two men: one black, one Asian. But apparently Poland isn't ready for that. Some point to Poland's ethnic homogeneity as a motive for the (sloppy) alteration, and in the meantime Microsoft has apologized.

What do you make of Microsoft's offense?

Say What? First Black Woman on Vogue Cover Speaks

TresSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:30:00 -0700

"When the magazine came out I had no idea at all that I was the first black woman to be on the cover of Vogue. I was just overjoyed to be on the cover because that's what you strive for as a model. That's when you know you have arrived."

- Beverly Johnson, on becoming the first black woman to be on the cover of Vogue in August 1974. She was only 21 when photographer Francesco Scavullo took the photo for the famed cover, but she quickly understood the significance of being first when she saw how discriminatory the fashion industry was - and still can be although it's clearly come a long way.