Michelle unleashed...
Issue #710 The Choice, Thursday, August 22, 2024
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So this morning, I happened to catch this particular meme (see above) in praise of Michelle Obama’s barnburner of a speech she delivered Tuesday evening on the second day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
It occurred to me that Michelle has probably been holding in this well-manicured Black Woman Rage for at least eight years, including the four years she and her husband were forced to watch while Trump and his enablers systematically destroyed and derailed as much as they possibly could of everything President Barack Obama had tried to accomplish during the previous eight years before having to turn over the White House keys to the Orange Beast.
Then, for four more years, President Biden worked furiously to put the train back on track, becoming one of the most consequential presidents in history in the process…
Yaaaaayyy! Woot! Woot!
…and yet the Orange Beast still managed to suck up all the media oxygen while remaining a potent threat to retake the White House and finish what he started.
WTF?
It’s a wonder the poor woman didn’t explode.
Before delivering his own stellar remarks endorsing the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris to become the next President of the United States, former POTUS Barack Obama joked to the crowd that he might be the only person foolish enough to try and follow Michelle Obama on stage, which was still singed and smoking.
Self-awareness is a wonderful thing. Barack Obama, bless his heart, was kinda correct. Because as good as he was, neither he nor anyone else should have had to follow Michelle Obama on Tuesday night. Just clear the stage and get out the damned way.
And I get that Obama is the former president, whereas Michelle is merely (?) the wife of that former president. She didn’t hold any office; she was just (??) the wife. But for those taking notes (and you really should be taking notes), this is a real-time paradigm shift we are witnessing.
It is the women, Black women in particular, who are now taking center stage. Tonight, when Kamala Harris steps to the podium, she will formally launch a new era when women are no longer just the rescue team/cleanup crew, nor will they remain content in roles as the supporting or opening act.
Women, especially Black women, are now the main event. Michelle just wanted to add an exclamation point to that latest development for those who may have missed it or, like Trump, fell asleep during the proceedings.
Truth be told, Black women have been the main event in the Democratic Party for quite some time. But now, that fact is being shoved front and center, so it can no longer be denied how much they have to contribute and how indispensable they are to the nation's salvation.
In 1972, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm lit the flame when she became the first Black woman to run for President.
On Opening Night of the Democratic Convention, Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) asked the crowd which of the two candidates they would hire while also demonstrating just how overqualified a Black woman still has to be to defeat a pathetically unqualified white male:
“Kamala Harris has a résumé,” she said. “Donald Trump has a rap sheet.”
And yet, the race is said to be close.
The following night, Michelle Obama asked that same crowd, “Who wants to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking just might be one of those Black jobs?”
Tonight, Kamala Harris will forever redefine the meaning of a Black Job and, in the process, the meaning of America.
Or maybe she will simply help America take one step closer to living up to its promise.
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