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Michelle Obama’s Directness Delivered A Moment Of Freedom
The former first lady called out the Trump Administration at the DNC, no code-switch. Did White people really get her message?
Last week, over an endless glass of rioja, I watched Michelle Obama speak on the first night of the Democratic National Convention.
“You know I hate politics,” she said in a speech that proved she’s a superior political orator, much like her husband. As she referred to the Trump Administration’s mishandling of the nation’s most present issues, she calmly expressed her current distaste toward Trump’s game of thrones.
“They see people shouting in grocery stores, unwilling to wear a mask to keep us all safe,” she said. “They see people calling the police on folks minding their own business just because of the color of their skin. They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good, and winning is everything because as long as you come out on top, it doesn’t matter what happens to everyone else.” Understanding that our would-be tyrant will do everything he can to rig the upcoming 2020 presidential election, Mrs. Obama implored us to not “withhold our votes in protest or play.” She told us to make sure we receive and send back our mail-in ballots as soon as possible.
I have been thoroughly conditioned to speak artfully, but not truthfully, about who is killing us. It’s the power of the White gaze. I escape it in writing. I have yet to master escaping it in speech.
My heart still soars when either of the Obamas speak. I’m too much of a student of history — and my mother’s child — to offer criticism against them. But still, I cannot stop believing that their rhetoric is often limited by the freezing power of the White gaze, resulting in an hesitancy to call things out as they indeed are.
