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Read other letters about this article
I voted for, canvassed for, and gave 990.00 to the camapaign of Barack Obama. I'm in my late 40s, white, and grew up with no father around in the 1960s, in the poorest, black section of New Haven, Connecticut. All my childhood friends, and most of my adult friends were, and are, not white. I'm a professional IT consultant and a writer living with my wife and 4 children in Massachusetts. And I take issue with the culturally ignorant, willfully naieve, indolent, callow, bigoted tone of Ms. Kaplan's article.
"...She looks like she could kick Barack's ass, if need be..."
She looks like she’d never *have* to, as in, no black or white ghetto justice necessary, intellect & character are with Michelle- enough with the ‘kick ass’ stuff... or are you just trying to extend the metaphor? Clumsy and simplistic, no matter the intent, girl!
"...Ever since slavery, it's been both vilified and fetishized as the most singular of all black female features, more unsettling than dark skin and full lips, the thing that marked black women as uncouth and not quite ready for civilization (of course, it also made them mighty attractive to white men, which further stoked fears of miscegenation that lay at the heart of legal and social segregation). In modern times, the butt has demarcated class and stature among black society itself..."
Big black booty makes black women equally attractive to black men, but also the ‘other’ makes white men attractive to black women and black men, the ‘other' makes white women attractive to black men and black women, the ‘other makes black men attractive to white women and white men, etc... beginning to get it?
"It's OK for black women to be heavier than most, but we still have to conform to a universal (that is, white) standard of thinness and shape..."
Ummm, so do *white* women, and Asian women, and every woman who voluntarily submits to the white, gay man dressing a live ‘Barbie Doll’ iron rubric of modern fashion.
"...(the closest it gets is "hips," but even white women know that's not equivalent)..."
Vilifying white women, again, by implying they are inherently cluelessness and stupid, because they’re ‘white women’? Niiiiice.
"How sad that, in order for a black family to prevail -- because Michelle and the girls were all running for office, not just Barack -- they had to sublimate their blackness like crazy, starting with the visuals. Michelle's ethnic butt might have snuck under the radar, but an ethnic do wouldn't have stood a chance."
Let me clue you in, girl- we ALL sublimate, especially any 'family' who runs for President. How long have they all had the hairstyles they’ve had now? How do YOU know what they like? How do YOU know they had to ‘de-ethnicize’ their hair to have Barack win? Do YOU think they have to wear their hair a certain ‘ethnic' way to pass ‘ethnic authenticity’? You're content to pontificate and bloviate, rather than marshall
a serious, yet funny and entertaining essay. Being 'Ghetto' is only cool when you know the difference. For all your sass, you're as culturally and ethically hidebound as Patrician country club member defending his club's 'No Blacks' policy. And glib. THAT'S really white, and you should know better. That you don't only defines the sanctimony and churlishness of your essay, Erin. Nice premise, though.
