Hi Kate,
I read your blogs and love them and to those who think you are uneducated well that is clearly not the case. As for the death threats please take care. There are a lot of crazy people out there.
Let me state that I am black but I am not American and I don’t live in the US but my son goes to school there and for the first time in his life he has encountered racism. On your blog you state:
“The repeated trudging up of things like Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech as if it were still applicable ignores the progress that’s been made — how most kids don’t even notice or care about skin color, for example.”
Unfortunately while you are right that progress has been made there is still a far way to go. My son grew up in a country where his skin color just was not an issue. Now it is. He lives in a country and goes to a school where he is a minority and made to feel it. Sure he has white friends but imagine his disappointment when he entered a room to hear his while friend declare loudly “Yuck she’s black” as he skimmed a magazine, then recoiled in embarrassment as he saw my son enter the room; so my son rolls his eyes but he doesn’t forget. Yes Kate kids do care about skin color. Imagine his disgust when a parent leaves her table to hand him a tray as if it is his job to clear tables when those (many of whom are white) on waiter duty are standing at every table to collect dishes, so he stares down this white parent. Imagine his disillusionment when his white teacher tells him he cares too much about his grades and then his college counselor tries to steer him away from applying to Ivy League school, so he studies hard, gets excellent grades, makes sure they are recorded and downloads applications to every Ivy League School. Imagine his sadness when he and I sit on a train and are told by a white, former employee from Princeton that while Princeton is a wonderful educational institution the culture is quite difficult to deal with given their social clubs and their classism and racism.
Imagine my amazement when I discover a son who before attending school in the US didn’t even notice or care about skin color but who is now more than ever conscious of his “blackness” and who wonders whether he should study African American studies instead of Biotechnology.
So yes I may not agree with some of the utterances of Michelle Obama. But observing my son’s reaction I do recognize that there is some degree of truth to the claims of not getting the minority (black) experience. I can understand anger emanating from those experiences; I can understand resentment growing from those experiences; I can understand hate springing from those experiences. I can understand voting for Obama because finally some hold the hope that the progress that has been made will not be eroded and that America can finally move on.
I can also understand working hard to counter negative presumptions and to truly strive to be judged not by the color of one’s skin, but by the content of one’s character. Unfortunately there is a plethora of evidence to show that that day has still not come in America. That is what I am encouraging my son to do. If you think Michelle Obama’s statements are wrong engage is respectful discussion; don’t fight anger with anger, it only encourages more divisiveness. Perhaps if Kate met Michelle (both lawyers) they would learn that neither of them is racist but maybe they haven’t yet determined how to talk about race.
