Dr Boyce Watkins: Does Michelle Obama want her Kids to be Just Like Beyonce?
Lots of conversation has centered around the growing relationship between first lady Michelle Obama and Beyonce Knowles. Beyonce sent Michelle an extremely nice public letter, sharing her popularity of the first lady. Michelle responded by tweeting “Thank you for that beautiful letter and for being a role model who kids everywhere look approximately.”
Michelle Obama
Perhaps within the spirit of hip-hop, I should have (as Reilly on “The Boondocks” would) said the language “pause” and “no homo” before discussing how close both of these for women who live become. But from respect for President Obama’s announcement in support of gay marriage, I must publicly banish the term “no homo” from my vocabulary.
With that said, eyebrows were extra arched together amazing first lady (Michelle) is now especially chummy with a first lady in their own right (Beyonce). One woman is married to the leader of the free world, and also the other is married towards the world’s most well-known slum lord (did I believe that that?). OK, Jay-Z isn’t a slum lord, but he is an extremely talented artist who circles the planet calling himself a “Ni**a in Paris,” where he even refers to Beyonce since the “b*tch as part of his home.” When I recieve married, I don’t expect that my partner is going to be very happy to hear that I’ve called her a b*tch in public places, regardless how much money some white guy paid me to say it.
But in spite of their superstar husbands, neither of these women are Basketball Wives, whose greatest way to obtain achievement originates from hard work of somebody else. Beyonce has earned more than her husband Jay-Z, and Michelle would probably make a better president than Barack (well, she would a minimum of be considered a better black president).
Both women are beautiful and intelligent wives, mothers, and career women. That point is abundantly clear.
Some wonder, however, if Beyonce is surely an adequate role model for young women. My friend Demetria Lucas at TheRoot.com openly questioned if Michelle should be following Beyonce around the country and sending tweets of admiration across cyberspace. I can understand where Demetria is coming from, since we could claim that Beyonce did elect to marry an early drug dealer and made a song (Soldier) encouraging girls to date dudes with “hood status” who “carry big thangs,” “make money three ways,” and “keep it real.” That song irked me to no end, must be great deal of brothers have ended or attended prison trying to “keep it real” over some nonsense.
But even as consider what Beyonce represents, the nice clearly outweighs the bad. She carries herself having a significant amount of grace, poise and civility that produces her worthy of her superstar status. She’s not like Rihanna, seen on a blog weekly smoking weed with no top on. She’s not beating women down on television like Evelyn Lozada, and she’s living her lifetime with dignity inside a media space that loves to see black women at their absolute worst.
Is Beyonce a negative role model for black women? I don’t think so. The mutual respect between Michelle, Oprah and Beyonce represents growing empowerment among women in the country where women now officially comprise most of the American workforce. Michelle and Beyonce usually are not feminists, they're womanists. They are proud to be feminine, accept some traditional gender roles, but command the respect that they deserve. They know they don’t have to have a man, but they allow themselves to want good men to help make relationships work - that makes them both powerful and lovable, that is an awesome combination.
Michelle Obama
I don’t feel that Michelle wants Sasha and Malia to grow up and marry their very own version of Jay-Z (if Malia’s boyfriend ever calls her a b*tch, he could result in Guantanamo Bay). But, there are some things that they are able to study on their mother’s friends, most of whom show them a little bit of what it really means to be an empowered black woman in the usa. That sounds very good to me.
Michelle Obama
Perhaps within the spirit of hip-hop, I should have (as Reilly on “The Boondocks” would) said the language “pause” and “no homo” before discussing how close both of these for women who live become. But from respect for President Obama’s announcement in support of gay marriage, I must publicly banish the term “no homo” from my vocabulary.
With that said, eyebrows were extra arched together amazing first lady (Michelle) is now especially chummy with a first lady in their own right (Beyonce). One woman is married to the leader of the free world, and also the other is married towards the world’s most well-known slum lord (did I believe that that?). OK, Jay-Z isn’t a slum lord, but he is an extremely talented artist who circles the planet calling himself a “Ni**a in Paris,” where he even refers to Beyonce since the “b*tch as part of his home.” When I recieve married, I don’t expect that my partner is going to be very happy to hear that I’ve called her a b*tch in public places, regardless how much money some white guy paid me to say it.
But in spite of their superstar husbands, neither of these women are Basketball Wives, whose greatest way to obtain achievement originates from hard work of somebody else. Beyonce has earned more than her husband Jay-Z, and Michelle would probably make a better president than Barack (well, she would a minimum of be considered a better black president).
Both women are beautiful and intelligent wives, mothers, and career women. That point is abundantly clear.
Some wonder, however, if Beyonce is surely an adequate role model for young women. My friend Demetria Lucas at TheRoot.com openly questioned if Michelle should be following Beyonce around the country and sending tweets of admiration across cyberspace. I can understand where Demetria is coming from, since we could claim that Beyonce did elect to marry an early drug dealer and made a song (Soldier) encouraging girls to date dudes with “hood status” who “carry big thangs,” “make money three ways,” and “keep it real.” That song irked me to no end, must be great deal of brothers have ended or attended prison trying to “keep it real” over some nonsense.
But even as consider what Beyonce represents, the nice clearly outweighs the bad. She carries herself having a significant amount of grace, poise and civility that produces her worthy of her superstar status. She’s not like Rihanna, seen on a blog weekly smoking weed with no top on. She’s not beating women down on television like Evelyn Lozada, and she’s living her lifetime with dignity inside a media space that loves to see black women at their absolute worst.
Is Beyonce a negative role model for black women? I don’t think so. The mutual respect between Michelle, Oprah and Beyonce represents growing empowerment among women in the country where women now officially comprise most of the American workforce. Michelle and Beyonce usually are not feminists, they're womanists. They are proud to be feminine, accept some traditional gender roles, but command the respect that they deserve. They know they don’t have to have a man, but they allow themselves to want good men to help make relationships work - that makes them both powerful and lovable, that is an awesome combination.
Michelle Obama
I don’t feel that Michelle wants Sasha and Malia to grow up and marry their very own version of Jay-Z (if Malia’s boyfriend ever calls her a b*tch, he could result in Guantanamo Bay). But, there are some things that they are able to study on their mother’s friends, most of whom show them a little bit of what it really means to be an empowered black woman in the usa. That sounds very good to me.