Why So Hateful?

[I know some of you have realized by now that the Salvage kinda' goes dormant during the summer. . . for obvious reasons. . . so I won't give some lame excuse for the absence, lol. That said, I would like to present the first article from the newest addition to the Black Salvage team, Angry Sally. -Chief Editor]

Why so Hateful?

According to Urbandictionary.com, the number one definition of hating is when one puts down the success or fortune of others due to jealousy. When you hear the word hating what comes to mind? Lately, in my mind, the term conjures up images of Michelle Obama.

Ever since she came into the national spotlight, Michelle Obama has been an open target. She has been described as a volatile “angry black woman,” caricatured as a gun toting terrorist, and quoted to sound like an unpatriotic fist-bumping anomaly. Most of her criticism comes from “credible” twenty-four hour television news programs, magazines, and newspapers. For every compliment and praise Mrs. Obama receives, there are two derogatory comments waiting in the dark wings of the American media. Of course, in American politics such venomous critique is to be expected. I mean, who really compared Barack Obama to Britney and Paris before John McCain released the SNL sketch he calls a campaign ad? Politics consists of the artful use of words, images, and collective social phobias to win votes.

And while this “let’s portray Michelle Obama as scary and foreign” approach to winning the White House is nothing new at this point, her presence as Barack Obama’s wife and potential future First Lady has given way to a new phenomenon among some black women : the “she ain’t do nothing but marry Barack Obama” attitude.

In my conversations with several black women concerning Michelle Obama, the discussion ended in an awkward silence and me defending Ms. Obama as if she was my family. According to some, there is absolutely no reason for the Princeton University grad to receive as much media attention as she has garnered, nor has she done anything to deserve such recognition. These sentiments confuse me. Even before Barack Obama made the fateful decision to run for the Whitehouse, the spouse of a potential presidential candidate received much attention. When Bill Clinton made his two successful runs for the White House, the politically strong Hilary Clinton was profiled almost as much as him. Forget contemporary politics and let’s go way back to George Washington. Before Martha Washington became the nation’s original First Lady, she was Martha Cutsis, a recent widow and the wealthy owner of plantations and other property. In the annals of American history, it would seem, that the wife of a potential presidential candidate is just as successful if not more successful than her Whitehouse seeking spouse.

Is it really a crime that Michelle Obama, even before her marriage to the prospective 44th President of the United States, graduated from two prestigious universities, served as the assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, and broke many stereotypes plaguing Black women? Are the rules different for Black presidential spouses? Should the current issues of Essence, and Ebony, magazines have pictures of Cindy McCain plastered on their covers? What has Michelle done that is so detrimental to the Black female identity in America? Please help me out, because I fail to understand why some Black women feel threatened by the “fist pumper.”

Perhaps the negative stereotypes projected by the media are correct: Michelle Obama is a
threat to the United States. She will parachute into the Whitehouse with her oversized Afro, military fatigues, and automatic firearm to destroy the U.S. from the inside out and make it mandatory to greet her husband with the Carpal Tunnel inducing “terrorist fist pump.” Be afraid America, be very afraid.

STOP HATING!

by Angry Sally

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