When I read about this on the huffingtonpost style page, I shook my head in utter amazement. I couldn't believe it. Yes, the founder of the Black Artists Association, Amnau Eele, slammed Michelle Obama for not picking an African-American fashion designer for her inauguration dress. Here is what she said:"It's fine and good if you want to be all 'Kumbaya' and 'We Are the World' by representing all different countries. But if you are going to have Isabel Toledo do the inauguration dress, and Jason Wu do the evening gown, why not have Kevan Hall, B Michael, Stephen Burrows or any of the other black designers do something too?"I believe her criticism is completely undeserved. It really is.Not because Michelle Obama is above criticism (no one is) but because the First Lady will have 4 full years (hopefully 8 years) to showcase the artistry and radiance of African-American designers. Think of all the State Dinners at the White House. Think of all of the Democratic Party fundraisers. Think of all the international travel to continent after continent. You get my point? She’s going to have 365 chances each year to wear the digs of African-American designers in high-profile settings – and brag about to the press.I do believe there was an missed opportunity here. Ms. Amnau Eele, who leveled the criticism at Mrs. Obama, could have leveraged her position with the Black Artists Association to be a contact for The First Lady. You know, someone who could consult The First Lady about clothes and styles from both established and up-and-coming designers alike. Michelle Obama has a full staff, and a strong communications team in her office. So why not e-mail her? Why not fax her? Why not send her a nice card congratulating her on her beautiful dress, and letting her know that you’d like to recommend some designers for her next big event?I just don’t get it.Also, let me say this too: I really didn’t like the “be all 'Kumbaya' and 'We Are the World' by representing all different countries” part in Ms. Eele’s criticism either. This is a multicultural country. Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native-Americans, Arab-Americans, and young whites also voted in earth shattering numbers for President Obama. Not just because of him, but also because of his lovely, enterprising wife – a woman of incredible charisma and unimpeachable intellect, and, a woman who walks amongst dignitaries and heads of state without losing that COMMON TOUCH. She resonates with the nameless, faceless, voiceless millions who yearn for an empowered life outside of the shadows and margins of society. Indeed, her agenda (children, education, and military families) is animated by the hopes of the millions who follow and support her - including millions of black designers.Knocking The First Lady for choosing an Asian American designer and a Latino designer is very, very unfair. I don't believe for one second that the Obamas are going to leave African-American designers out in the cold. No one can convince me of that. I mean, of course Michelle Obama is going to wear dresses from black designers (she wears them throughout the year).Michelle Obama is going to continue to reach out to different racial and ethnic groups for designers with great styles. She has to. Her position as First Lady of The United States mandates that she speaks to both the color-specific differences that make us unique (because they exists and are real) as well as the color-neutral commonalities that bring us together. The current composition of this country demands it.But, I can't help wondering how things would have been if Ms. Eele said this instead: “I will continue to celebrate Michelle Obama’s wonderful, awe-inspiring style, and, through my group, and others, consistently suggest ways she can maintain that style through the creative visions of designers, representing the total richness of America’s racial and ethinic diversity. I want to help her in that process.”Why didn’t she say that instead?
2morrowknight is an internet strategist and community organizer who blogs at 2morrowknight.blogspot.com, and is author of a forthcoming children's book. You can follow him at Twitter.com/2morrowknight and friend him at Myspace.com/2morrowknight.
"It's not some perfect ideal we're working toward that keeps us going...I don't expect to see perfection before I die... What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself,"What life can I live that will let me breathe in & out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods."
Today’s Inauguration
Today’s inauguration will go down in history books,
As elders are reminded of all the struggles that it took.
Many lost their lives so one day all could be free.
Free to choose their paths and fulfill their destinies.
Today some may get emotional and may even shed a tear.
We thought one day this would be possible and now that day is here.
It’s not all about his color, but what it represents.
Word can’t sum up what this presidential race has meant.
As President Obama stands to give his inaugural speech,
We know the importance of what his inaugural message will teach.
That anything is possible and that we all are one,
No matter what our color or which country we come from.
I think that at this moment color no longer exists.
Hopefully one day racial tension will only be a myth.
© Angel G. Howell
Curiously, when I woke up yesterday morning, after the pageantry and the poetry, the plain speaking of the hard road ahead, the people in the streets cheering and some even tearing up, no lofty words came to mind. We have a new president, I thought happily, recalling the image of Michelle and Barack, walking down Pennsylvania Ave holding hands. A couple in love strolling down the street! It struck me how normal they seemed, how very much like my husband and I when we go walking. Except… hold on! Where was her purse? Michelle was out on the town without the most essential part of any woman’s wardrobe: her clutch, her purse, her bag, her backpack, the stuff every woman carries with her wherever she goes. Surely, she would not have left it in the car, no matter how many times the driver has been bonded. No way, no how. Wherever a woman goes, there goes her purse! We all know that even Queen Elizabeth II drags that purse of hers along from room to room even in her own house (or castle, rather!).
This is what worried me when I woke up yesterday morning until I realized what being First Lady really means: NO HANDBAG. As much as we women are attached to our bags, they are heavy and our arms get tired carrying them. I don’t know about Michelle Obama, but my own bag at times feels as if it weighs a ton. How can you stroll down the avenue, smiling for the cameras, holding hands with your man when you’re toting all that stuff on your other arm? How can you wave to an adoring crowd when you’re schlepping the equivalent of four dozen bagels and two tubs of cream cheese with you wherever you go? This is what Michelle, or some other clever first lady, must have realized right off.
"No more bargaining with God," my mother said after we watched the Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama on January 20 at Station 9, a U Street restaurant in Washington, DC. When I asked her what that meant, she said that just as she had prayed to see my sister and me grow up and hit the significant birthdays and benchmarks in our lives -- as well as her personal benchmarks, -- she prayed that she would live to see Barack Obama inaugurated as president.
My mother turned 81 on January 2, 2009. She was the youngest daughter, ninth child and first of my grandmother’s 10 children to be born in Washington, DC during segregation and on the brink of the Great Depression. When we researched my mother’s genealogy in Culpeper County, VA, we learned that her matrilineal line dates back to the late 1700s in the United States. We even found the name of the man who "last owned" her great grandfather, Abram. As my sister photocopied the census information from "The Colored People of Culpeper County" that named my mother’s grandmother and the names of her great and great-great grandparents, my mother’s reaction was "I feel like I belong to something."
In the last several years, walking and crowds have become more challenging for my mother. So on January 20, 2009, my mother, sister and I went to the restaurant reserved by DC for Obama for campaign volunteers and friends to watch the Inauguration. I wore my deceased father’s sweater loaded with all my campaign buttons. (Because my father’s ancestry also extended more than 200 years in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I had worn this sweater while canvassing and doing Get Out the Vote in Prince William County, VA to feel the support of my ancestors as I knocked on doors in communities unknown to me.) I gave my mother the Obama-Biden inauguration button purchased the day after the election.
During the election, my mother and I had several conversations about what it was like be a citizen of a country in which you are also treated like the stranger. My experiences traveling outside the United States brought home to me how much I am a product of "American" culture. But it surprised me to hear my mother say that most often she felt like she was an exile or refugee. So the most moving part of Inauguration Day for me was when Aretha Franklin sang "My Country Tis of Thee." The "Queen of Soul" hardly got out "sweet land of liberty" when my mother grabbed the tissues from her purse and started sobbing. I put my arm around "Mommy" as several tears rolled down my own cheeks.
When the inauguration ceremony was over, I asked my mother what had moved her about "My Country Tis of Thee." She said "we used to sing that song in school all the time when I was a girl, but I never believed it was true for me until now. Today, this is my country, too."
Many of us including myself are doomed to watch Inauguration Day on TV. Either the hotel reservation did not work out or your only friend in DC already has given his guest room to someone else. However, TV is a good way to be part of Inauguration Day, too. Probably, it is warmer that 17 degree in your house. Also, you will most certainly have a better view on the president.
However you willl probably unfortunately miss out on some of the cool obama merchandise out there. To get the coolest Obama Merchandise Item out there go to OriginalObamaWristband.com
The Original Obama Wristband is the most awesome way to remember the Inauguration of Barack Obama!!! Go to OriginalObamaWristband.com
This day has been aching to arrive ---I am so happy and see that so many people are anxiously overjoyed to have Barack Obama finally assume his role as PRESIDENT Obama!
There's much work to be done but I feel that he is the man to inspire and encourage all to come together for a National purpose and put aside the infighting, bickering, and other matters of inconsequence!
Congratulations President Obama --- may we all work together to rebuild this nation, its infrastructure, its confidence, its very soul!
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Hello Everyone,
I cannot wait until next week, January 20, 2009! It seems like liberation day for the country. I propose a toast, by everyone the moment after the chief justice says those magic words, "Congratulations Mr. President." I am goingto start a atalog ofcomments by people on, "Where they were" and "What they were doing" when Barack Hussein Obama became our nation's 44th president.
As we prepare for the inauguration on the 20th, many of us are thinking about collectibles we will have available to us. I’m talking about collectibles that we can hand down to our kids, collectibles that remind us of what we have accomplished and where we need to go.
Sure, there will be many pins and buttons given out at the inauguration and all the parties, which for the most part will inevitably lost in the coming weeks.
Ones you will keep forever. I'm talking about Bobbleheads.
Bobbleheads have been around for hundreds of years in some form or fashion. We have created a unique collectible of our 44th President Barack Obama as the true "Superman." Here to save us from the trouble we have got ourselves into.
We have also created one with Vice President Joe Biden.
Both are Limited Editions of 100 and hand signed, numbered, and designed by Rick Lynn of The Bobblehead, LLC.
You can view the Bobbleheads at http://www.thebobblehead.com. Simply click on Political section under the Online Store. Have some for your inauguration party.
In order to get great merchandise for a reasonable price get your Obama Inauguration Day Merchandise in advance! Before inauguration day check on the internet for the best and coolest Obama stuff out there. The best thing to wear on inauguration day, at home, at work, or just anywhere would be a unique and great looking bracelet from www.originalobamawristband.com
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Obama's inauguration on January the 20th, 2009 will be a great event in the history books. The 44th president of the United States is the also the first black president of the US. Due to the Obama many people started voting for the first time and political awareness of the US public raised to another level. Also, Obama found great support in the rest of the world. Especially the leading European countries love Obama. My recent trip to Europe confirmed what I already had heard about in the international news and various blogs. When people knew I was from the US, they were always talking about the longed for change in the White House that happens with the inauguration with Barack Obama as the 44th President of the US.
Inauguration Day is coming up soon. Merchandise will be expensive in D.C. on inauguration day. You should try to get your merchandise early and have some for your friends. Take a look at all the cool Obama stuff that is out there. Check out the Original Obama Wristband from OriginalObamaWristband.com , its subtle and clear design lets you remember Obama's inauguration, always.
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I'm already feeling a change and it isn't the one I wanted. I'm hearing and reading from others how they're already beginning to feel disillusioned with Barack Obama because of his decision to elevate hate at the upcoming inauguration. I say no way, no how will this victory be stolen from those of us who are looking to this new President to lead this country back to the course we must be on to fulfill our obligations to each other and the world. But just like Obama told us, we can't rely on just his rhetoric, his appointments, and his decisions. We must also participate in the change and with that in mind, I'm looking for like-minded individuals who want to find an organized way to express our outrage during the inauguration about the decision to include hatemonger Rick Warren.
I am very disappointed with the Rick Warren invitation, but I am not ready to write Obama off -- far from it. Instead I want to essentially follow his repeated calls to get more fully engaged. Had this been a policy decision I would not have been as surprised. After all, Obama ran opposed to gay marriage. Instead, and most perplexing, Obama chose to do this -- offend gay Americans and their friends and family -- over a strictly symbolic matter and sometimes symbols can be exceedingly important. This is one of those times. The man was elected because enough voters were swayed by his argument that the time for divisiveness was over. The very survival of the nation being at stake -- so we had to set aside things like the culture wars and deal with the fundamentals of national security, economics and environment. I totally agree with that premise.However, elevating a hatemonger to deliver a prayer on the stage at the nation's big day is a symbol of exactly the opposite: that we're not really setting aside those culture wars. Instead we're lending them more credibility. Just as I would not have expected Obama to select Gene Robinson (the openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of New Hampshire) to deliver this prayer, so I would have assumed his choice would have been any number of clergy who have a far less public profile of the culture war issues such as gay marriage, abortion rights and stem cell research (all actively opposed by Rick Warren).While I hope the invitation will somehow be rescinded, having already made my plans to attend the swearing in, I and many other like-minded citizens need to prepare now for an organized action while the whole world is watching. Rarely will gay activists and their supporters have such an incredible stage to show ourselves and discuss our issues. For those of you who believe that doing anything like this on the occasion of the swearing in of our nation's first bi-racial President could be a PR disaster for us, I disagree. We can be forceful and respectful, especially if we plan this in advance. Those who agree that hatemongers should not be elevated in our society in this way need to have a way to express themselves right then, right there during the ceremony.
Having made my own personal case for organizing, I'd like to hear from others and especially get some ideas on what could be done in Washington at the Mall during the ceremony and/or the parade that follows. I'm sure many of you will write about how wrong this is as a strategy, but this blog is about taking a pro-active stand to speak out at the inauguration, not about debating whether we should be silent. As they once shouted in the Reagan years at ACT UP demo's, "Silence equals death." And this queen is silent no more!
Why let religion divide the nation? History proves religious differences are the source of most conflict in this world. Why bring in the preachers? A humanist approach would be the most appealing option for this inauguration ceremony.
