A Short History of Racism: The Michelle Obama Story

Racism has been a part of American culture since the country’s inception.

I will take the reader through a sequential, yet abbreviated, view of racism, and the systematic process and legislation passed to eliminate it. It will be viewed through a prism of objectivity– as opposed to subjective balderdash–from the Emancipation Proclamation through 1965. After 1965, the path takes a subjective turn and the reader can follow the macabre journey of Michelle Obama as she fights a daily battle against racism, unlike any seen since the Jim Crow era, to complete her education. And how she was able to overcome suffocating oppression and emerge as a well rounded American patriot, who stands proud, and thanks her country everyday for the opportunity it gave her.

1862: The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War on September 22, 1862. Lincoln’s proclamation declared that all slaves be freed within the “rebellious states”.

1865: After the Civil War concluded, The 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865 abolishing slavery in the United States.

1866: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed on April 9, 1866, over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The Civil Rights Act outlined the newly gained rights for the freed slaves.

1868: The 14th Amendment was ratified on July, 9, 1868. This amendment clarified the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

1896: Plessy v Ferguson (1896) addressed the “separate but equal” status of blacks. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal”.

1867-1965: Shortly after the end of the Civil War and the ensuing Constitutional amendments it spawned, the Jim Crow laws became the de facto laws outlining the rights of blacks. The Jim Crow laws were primarily in the Southern states and their intent were to restrict and circumvent the newly acquired rights of the freed slaves from the 13th and 14th Amendments. These laws were in effect from 1876 until 1965. The laws separated black Americans from white Americans through a “separate but equal” modus operandi. A few examples of the Jim Crow laws where blacks and whites, by law, were not allowed to co-exist and the catalysts responsible for their abolishment: Public transportation (Rosa Parks), public schools (Brown v Board of Education), restricting the ability to vote with poll taxes and literacy tests (24th Amendment) , segregated restaurants, drinking fountains, etc.(Civil Rights Act of 1964).

 

1965: Michelle Obama is born.

In very recent American history, as currently as the preceding 40 years, black Americans had fire hoses turned on them; attack dogs were unleashed on them; they were lynched; they had crosses burned in their yards; blacks were, across the board, unable to integrate with whites in the public arena.

The preceding chronology is, without dispute, unadulterated racism. When a black American, who lived in that era, speaks of the racism they were subjected to, or witnessed, it is believable and raw. When Michelle Obama talks about racism, knowing her background, it is paramount opportunism.

What is the significance of Michelle Obama in this presidential race? Michelle and Barack Obama are a package deal. To believe otherwise would be intellectual absurdity. She is equally as much an Achilles Heel to his campaign as his own anti-American and racist background and current credo. There is far too much unknown about Barack Obama, and what is gradually being extracted from the penumbra, is apocalyptical. Michelle Obama is a significant piece of the puzzle in elucidating Barack Obama the presidential candidate. When Michelle’s views are exposed, so are the views of Barack.

By the time Michelle Obama was born, in 1965, the grisly, industrial degree of public, overt racism had vanished. It was replaced with individually held racism, resentment, and prejudices caused by over active legislation. People continued to harbor racism for the simple reason that no matter how many legislative agendas are passed against racism, you cannot legislate thoughts, feelings and attitudes–when you do, it breeds resentment and prejudice, and can be confused with racism.

Reflect on the preceding atrocities that black Americans endured and the horrible racist atrocities that Michelle Obama had to endure at Princeton and Harvard. Michelle would have you believe, as she does, that the racism she endured at two Ivy League universities is indistinguishable from the atrocities endured by blacks until 40 years ago.

Michelle Obama’s road to Princeton followed the following route: Michelle Obama was a good student in High School, not a great student, just good. She was not at the top of her graduating class. Her High School academic accomplishments did not garner the attention of her school’s college counselors–they used their resources on the smarter students who had been preparing to enter top tier universities. In the aggregate of graduating seniors, her grades and test scores did not merit an Ivy League university’s entrance. But, Michelle had an ace up her sleeve–affirmative action. She applied to Princeton and was accepted. She made it to Princeton and Harvard by being the beneficiary of reverse discrimination. If her ancestors were of a different racial background, she would not have serendipitously been accepted to Princeton, which beget Harvard, and the reader would never have heard her name.

Princeton was founded in 1746 by white men. Classes were taught by white men. It was intended to educate white men. It was a white university. Bruce Wright was the first black accepted to Princeton in 1935. When he showed up for class, and through visual inspection, it was discovered he was black, he was sadly, and undeservedly, sent home even though he was, as opposed to Michelle Obama, academically qualified on merit. The barrier to blacks at Princeton was broken in 1942 when 4 black sailors graduated from Princeton. The four black graduates were not replacements for more qualified white students to operate within a quota, but replaced white students that were less qualified. Michelle Obama replaced someone of a different race, better grades, more well rounded, and obviously from the gist of her senior thesis, more interested in an education from Princeton rather than chasing racist ghosts around campus. Yet, because the Civil War was fought and millions of white men died so the black slaves could live free; because of multitudes of legislation, enacted by white men, so blacks could enjoy the same rights as whites in America; because billions upon billions of white taxpayer dollars were and are being spent to continue to open doors to blacks 150 years after the 13th and 14th amendments were ratified–she is angry at white America. Doors have been opened through discrimination against white men and this somehow has made Michelle Obama a very angry black woman with her angst pointed at white America and who believes there is absolutely no reason to be proud of her country other than her husband running a good presidential campaign.

 

Michelle Obama has described the racism she endured at Princeton and Harvard in horrifying detail. She felt she was perceived as not equal. By sensing racism, she stated she was made more aware of her blackness than ever before. That is the extent of her racism experience at two Ivy League universities. Michelle Obama’s racism experience can be equated to the windmills that Don Quixote perceived as dragons. Michelle Obama has spent an inordinate amount of time obsessing about racism rather than realizing, on her worst day at Princeton or Harvard, she may have been subjected to disdain for, according to fellow black students, having a choleric disposition as a student, and being the benefactor of reverse racism in the guise of affirmative action, but nothing more than probable self perpetrated affliction.

I can think of nothing more repugnant than Michelle Obama’s description of her treatment at Princeton and Harvard. Universities she would have been unable to attend on her own academic merit. Her continued hatred and bitterness toward America, when there are millions of black Americans who can tell you first hand the atrocities they experienced as recently as 40 years ago, is loathing. She was able to attend Ivy League universities by being the benefactor of racism, with perceived racism in the air, while her elder compatriots attended segregated schools mandated by law and were unable, by law, to drink out of the same water fountains, eat at the same restaurants, etc. as white people.

What has a Princeton and Harvard education done for Michelle Obama? They have produced an off-the-rack, rich liberal elitist and an unappreciative affirmative action beneficiary.

During her husband’s presidential campaign, Michelle’s senior thesis at Princeton was temporarily withdrawn from the public view until after the presidential election. Under monumental pressure, Princeton made it public again. The title of her thesis was “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community”.

Following are the highlights of Michelle Obama’s senior thesis to give the reader an insight of her separatist ideology:

• The introduction to her thesis stated the following: My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘blackness’ than ever before.
• I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances under which I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second.
• She stated that America was founded on “crime and hate”.
• Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of their enrollments.
• In defining the concept of identification or the ability to identify with the black community, I based my definition on the premise that there is a distinctive black culture very different from white culture.
• She pointed out that Princeton (at the time) had only five black tenured professors on its faculty.
• There was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the black community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit the black community first and foremost.
• Her findings also stressed that Princeton was infamous for being racially the most conservative of the Ivy League universities.

To summarize her thesis, she sent out a questionnaire to 400 black alumni of Princeton. Only 90 were returned for a percentage of 22%. The other 310 alumni probably found her line of questioning presumptive racism that they did not endure, and possibly found the questions racially provocative. The conclusion of the survey was contrary to her myopic view of blacks with Ivy League educations. Her synopsis of the results: “I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.”

She was apparently confused and disappointed that black alumni, and then current students, from Princeton did not share her perception of racism and separatist views and she was obviously agitated that black alumni left Princeton and went on with their lives and assimilated into mainstream America, as all successful people of any race, creed, or gender do–if they opt to succeed on their own merit–and left the racial rhetoric and self destructive ideology to radicals like herself and other profiteers like Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, et al .

Michelle Obama sees the world in black and white. She sees two worlds that don’t exist: One world white and one world black and chooses not to see the center of her dysfunctional universe where there is one world, significantly larger than the peripheral fantasy planets she sees orbiting it. This world, based in reality, harbors the majority of American’s who believes the dream is there for anyone who chooses to chase it. Michelle and Barack have an enormous block of timber resting on their shoulders.

She has stated as recently as a month ago that, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. Life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is just downright mean, we are guided by fear, we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents.”

Is America ready for a black president? Emphatically no!

If a vote is cast for Obama only because he is black, or a vote not cast for him because he is black. The answer is no. Barack Obama is not a viable presidential candidate, not because he is black but because of who he and his wife are, as people, and what they represent. Barack Obama, with Michelle at his side, if elected, will significantly turn the clock back on race relations in the U.S. Not because race relations are at the level that racist profiteers would have you believe, but because the Obama’s will create a race problem of indeterminable magnitude.

But, conversely, is America ready for an honorable person to be president who just so happens to be black or just so happens to be a woman, or both? Emphatically, yes!

Barack and Michelle are divisive individuals and are not cut from presidential cloth and Barack is definitely not an honorable person running for president who just happens to be black.