Michelle Obama Gets into it with PETA

No strangers to controversy, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is up to its old tricks again. This time they’ve raised eyebrows by using an image of Michelle Obama in an anti-fur advertisement without her permission. The White House is not pleased, to say the least.

The ad in question features the image of the first lady alongside the images of Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, and Carrie Underwood underneath the slogan, "Fur-free and fabulous!" The ads, which PETA says features "a bevy of the smartest, most stylish, and most influential women in America," are being plastered all over the Washington D.C. Metro mass transit system, in addition to appearing in various magazines and websites.

While Winfrey, Banks and Underwood are all on record as publicly endorsing PETA’s anti-fur efforts, first lady Michelle Obama cannot endorse special interest groups such as PETA. Thus, the White House is mildly perturbed by the use of the first lady’s image in the campaign

 

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Your Black News: Michelle Obama Gets Criticized for Her Staff Size

In the past it’s been almost a tradition for America’s first ladies to catch flack from their husbands’ political opponents over the size of their staffs, and Michelle Obama certainly hasn’t been exempt from that. Criticism of her "massive" staff has popped up on email chains, blogs, and chat rooms. But what are the facts regarding how many people are under her employ, and how does the size of her staff compare to that of past first ladies?

On July 1st of this year, the Obama White House posted the Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff on its official blog. A minor uproar over the first lady’s staff size ensued. One critic atCanadianFreePress.com accused the president’s wife of employing an "unprecedented number of staffers" for someone who "doesn’t perform any official duties," while a widely circulated chain email reported that "there has never been anyone in the White House at any time that has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady’s social life." Many other critics of the Obama administration expressed similar sentiments.

 

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Your Black News: Racist Commissioner Compares Michelle Obama To A Spider

Canyon County Commissioner Steve Rule is coming under fire for circulating an e-mail that compares Michelle Obama’s election-night dress to a black widow spider. [...]

Jill Kuraitis of New West.net obtained a printed copy of the e-mail, which Rule received from a family member then forwarded to 26 people from his county e-mail account on Dec. 2.

Kuraitis said the e-mail features a photo of a black widow spider next to a photo of Michelle Obama in a black and red dress holding her elder daughter’s hand at the election-night event where Barack Obama accepted his election as the next president of the United States. Featuring boldface and underlines for emphasis, the e-mail reads, in part: “The female has a very wide backside, is Black, and has a red hour glass shaped marking on her belly You can find this spider in: Closets, Wood piles, Under Beds And soonTHE WHITE HOUSE!!!!”

Kuraitis decried the message as racist. [...]

“I didn’t see it that way,” Rule told the Idaho Statesman. “I didn’t study the e-mail I just thought the markings on her dress was very similar to that of the spider, and I thought it was kind of funny [...]

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Your Black Woman: Michelle Obama Slave Ancestry Revealed

Tiny wooden cabins line the dirt road once known as Slave Street as it winds through Friendfield Plantation.

More than 200 slaves lived in the whitewashed shacks in the early 1800s, and some of their descendants remained for more than 100 years after the Civil War. The last tenants abandoned the hovels about 30 years ago, and even they would have struggled to imagine a distant daughter of the plantation one day calling the White House home. [...]

Their documented passage begins with Jim Robinson, Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather, who was born about 1850 and lived as a slave, at least until the Civil War, on the sprawling rice plantation. Records show he remained on the estate after the war, working as a sharecropper and living in the old slave quarters with his wife, Louiser, and their children. He could neither read nor write, according to the 1880 census.

Robinson would be the last illiterate branch of Michelle Obama’s family tree.

Census records show each generation of Robinsons became more educated than the last [...]

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Your Black Woman: Essence Dedicates Whole Issue To Obama

Essence may have scooped Vogue, sort of, in being the first women’s magazine to put Michelle Obama on its cover since the presidential election, but the Time Inc. title did so by relying on archival images. Essence’s January issue is dedicated to President-elect Barack Obama, with essays and commentary from Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Gwen Ifill and other notable African-Americans:

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Your Black News: How Black America Shaped Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama may be the pride of the South Side, but her undergraduate years at Princeton also helped shape her worldview.

A new biography, Michelle (Simon & Schuster), by Washington Post reporter Liza Mundy, delves into Obama’s years at the elite university, in particular Obama’s senior thesis, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.”

“The question of what upper-income blacks owe to the less fortunate was a major preoccupation,” Mundy writes. [...]

Her thesis found that when African Americans are at Princeton as students, they tended to identify more with their race, but after graduating, less so. Obama, now 44, pledged not to forget the black underclass [...]

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Your Black News: Desirée Rogers Nominated Social Secretary

Desirée Rogers, a prominent Chicago businesswoman and Harvard MBA, will be named the first African American White House social secretary, sources in the presidential transition office said yesterday.

Rogers, 49, is a friend of Michelle and President-elect Barack Obama‘s, and a leader in Chicago corporate and civic circles; her appointment signals that the first couple consider the job crucial to how they introduce themselves to the country and the globe. She was a major fundraiser for Obama.

“This appointment sends a strong message that the Obamas want to use the White House strategically, to maximize its use in a way that is consistent with their philosophy — [to] open it to a broader range of people, ” said Valerie Jarrett, an Obama intimate and friend of Rogers’s who also will work in the White House. “Desirée is a heavy hitter — she comes with her own range of contacts from around the country. She’s close to Michelle and she knows everyone who will be working in the West Wing, so she will be able to create a synergy.” [...]

Ann Jordan, who has known Rogers for years, says: “She’s a very talented, successful, well-educated women who uses her skills well — she’s very organized [...]

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Your Black Politics: Is Barack Obama Wrestling With Self-Hatred?

Black Rage, Barack’s Redemption
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

After much deliberation, I’m convinced that President-Elect Obama’s disturbing perspective of the African-American community is not motivated by malice or cowardice, but simply a result of his upbringing. In other words, his distinctly condescending attacks on Black consciousness are merely a product of the overwhelming, disproportionate influence his White mother and White grandparents had on him. In contrast, Michelle Obama, raised by Black parents and nurtured in the womb of Black America, is prone to persuade a more empathetic view of the African-American community. It is virtually impossible for Barack Obama to have emerged from the loving arms of a woman who, “once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe,” and not have inherited some of such Negrophobia, which has cast dark shadows on Black male psyche. In Just Walk on By, Author, Brent Staples wrote of the degree of “lethality nighttime pedestrians” attribute to certain Black males who fit the kinds of cringe-worthy stereotypes which Obama’s grandmother (God rest her soul) must have expressed constantly. The impact of this on the young Barry cannot be overlooked [...]

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Your Black World Headlines: 11/15/2008

Michelle Obama Becoming New Role Model For Black Women

Valerie Jarrett Named Senior Advisor In Next White House

Toni Morrison Examines Slavery In New Book ‘A Mercy’

New Lawsuit Claims Discrimination In Katrina Aid

Are Black Professors Now Endangered Species?

Kanye West Arrested In England — Released

Your Black Hip-Hop: Nas: Election Night

New York Emcee, NaS, who earlier released “Black President,” is back with a new single. His latest, “Election Night,” addresses the emotion many African-Americans are going through, with regard to a potential Obama presidency looming larger than ever:

Your Black Life: Michelle Obama & Chris Rock On ‘The Tonight Show’

On Monday, Michelle Obama payed a visit to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Mrs. Obama talked, amongst many other things, about the road to victory, fashion, Gov. Palin, and her dad — who passed away in 1991 after a long bout with multiple sclerosis. Immediately following her appearance, Chris Rock was available to shake things up. Rock, known for his comedic ingenuity, cracked on everything from the Obamas, to the difference between Black and White kids, to the economy, and his new animated movie: “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.”

Watch Video At Your Black Life

Your Black Scholar: Exclusive Interview With Dr. Cornel West On Obama, Colin Powell, Hip-Hop & More

STICKY POST — SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST ENTRIES:

Interview with Princeton Professor and acclaimed scholar, Dr. Cornel West, by Tolu Olorunda.

He is, perhaps, the most well-known public scholar the universe has to offer. Alongside that, Dr. Cornel West has also been celebrated as, America’s leading public intellectual. Judging from his scholarly work, dedication, perseverance, intellectual curiosity and diligence, one can certainly confirm the role he plays as a distinct leader of his peers. Dr. West has continuously proved to be a multi-generational force for good. Through the publication of books, Hip-Hop albums and television specials aimed at young adults, Dr. Cornel West has impacted and transformed a whole generation of love-starved and directionless people. His wit notwithstanding, Dr. West’s ability to interpret the harsh conditions of the financially-disempowered is parallel to none. I had the distinguished pleasure of engaging in dialogue with this esteemed scholar on a wide swath of issues affecting our daily lives. I spoke with him on issues including, the presidential campaign of Sen. Obama, Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement, the role of progressives in an Obama administration, “Hope on a Tightrope,” Hip-Hop, the next generation of Black public intellectuals, and much more:

Thanks for joining us. What has Dr. West been up to lately?

Oh, I’ve been on the moon. I did 15 events for Brother Obama in Ohio, this past weekend. I did 12, the weekend before that. I’ve been to Seattle, Alabama; teaching full time. I’m blessed though, brother.

How does it feel being a surrogate for Sen. Obama’s historic presidential run?

Well, it’s a good thing, because in the end, it’s really about empowering everyday people, and he’s a major vehicle for that. He’s got some genius and inspiring people that give him a sense of possibility and hope. So, it’s a beautiful thing. But there’s always a tension there because I still got to speak my mind. So, I got my criticisms of the brother; but the most important thing to do, is a full-court press to get people out to vote, and to make sure that we contribute to this democratic awakening that’s taking place. This greed out here is running amok, man.

On the subject of greed; you’ve often talked about the melting of the Ice-Age. Do you feel the Democratic platform addresses poverty in a substantive fashion?

Well, it doesn’t address it as much as I would like [...]

Click To Read The Full Interview

Your Black Scholar: Exclusive Interview With Dr. Cornel West On Obama, Colin Powell, Hip-Hop & More

STICKY POST — SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST ENTRIES:

Interview with Princeton Professor and acclaimed scholar, Dr. Cornel West, by Tolu Olorunda.

He is, perhaps, the most well-known public scholar the universe has to offer. Alongside that, Dr. Cornel West has also been celebrated as, America’s leading public intellectual. Judging from his scholarly work, dedication, perseverance, intellectual curiosity and diligence, one can certainly confirm the role he plays as a distinct leader of his peers. Dr. West has continuously proved to be a multi-generational force for good. Through the publication of books, Hip-Hop albums and television specials aimed at young adults, Dr. Cornel West has impacted and transformed a whole generation of love-starved and directionless people. His wit notwithstanding, Dr. West’s ability to interpret the harsh conditions of the financially-disempowered is parallel to none. I had the distinguished pleasure of engaging in dialogue with this esteemed scholar on a wide swath of issues affecting our daily lives. I spoke with him on issues including, the presidential campaign of Sen. Obama, Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement, the role of progressives in an Obama administration, “Hope on a Tightrope,” Hip-Hop, the next generation of Black public intellectuals, and much more:

Thanks for joining us. What has Dr. West been up to lately?

Oh, I’ve been on the moon. I did 15 events for Brother Obama in Ohio, this past weekend. I did 12, the weekend before that. I’ve been to Seattle, Alabama; teaching full time. I’m blessed though, brother.

How does it feel being a surrogate for Sen. Obama’s historic presidential run?

Well, it’s a good thing, because in the end, it’s really about empowering everyday people, and he’s a major vehicle for that. He’s got some genius and inspiring people that give him a sense of possibility and hope. So, it’s a beautiful thing. But there’s always a tension there because I still got to speak my mind. So, I got my criticisms of the brother; but the most important thing to do, is a full-court press to get people out to vote, and to make sure that we contribute to this democratic awakening that’s taking place. This greed out here is running amok, man.

On the subject of greed; you’ve often talked about the melting of the Ice-Age. Do you feel the Democratic platform addresses poverty in a substantive fashion?

Well, it doesn’t address it as much as I would like [...]

Click To Read The Full Interview

Your Black Life: Sister, Can You Spare Some Class: Black Women In The Media

Sister, Can You Spare Some Class: Black Women in the Media
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com

Who can argue with prophetic leader and political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal’s assessment that “Black women are the most disfavored of all the nation’s women?” Only a fool would. Black Women, historically, have had to endure the horror of living in a world that screams hatred from its four corners. Like piercing swords drilling a hole into one’s soul, many Black Women are subjected daily to inhumane attacks from the left, right, front, and back angles of society.

[...]

In addition to coming to grips with the rampant racism exhibited in many White feminist organizations, financially-disempowered Black Women also face the firey scorn of well-to-do Black Women who hypocritically blame them for the criminal conditions in which they exist. With such precedent, I ask again, who can argue with prophetic leader and political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal’s assessment that “Black women are the most disfavored of all the nation’s women?”

Full Article At Your Black Life

Your Black Politics: FOX News’ Clown Host, Bill O’Reilly Attacks Michelle Obama

The face of disgrace, Bill O’Reilly, found another way, yesterday, to take criminal swipes at the potential first lady, Michelle Obama. In a new segment he calls, “The Obama Chronicles,” an “extensive 25-part series” on Sen. Barack Obama, O’Reilly made some deeply reprehensible comments. In an effort to slime the independent-minded Michelle Obama, Billo – as he’s called by rival host Keith Olbermann – began by degradingly labeling Ms. Obama as “the controversial wife of the Democratic candidate.” To affirm this folly-inspired categorization, O’Reilly further claimed – rather baselessly – that Michelle Obama “looks like an angry woman.” Most YBW readers are aware of FOX News’ reporter, Cal Thomas’s despicable remarks, earlier this year, that most Black Women on TV are of some shade of angry. Bill O’Reilly, who has in the past, expressed willingness to lynch Michelle Obama — on the condition that substantive proof is given that she feels a certain way about her country, blamed the victims of Hurricane Katrina for their demise, publicly expressed shock at the idea of Black people acting civically at an Harlem Restaurant, and claimed inner-city kids are innately incivil, is in no way morally equipped to assess the temperament of anyone — let alone someone who, quite obviously, shatters the limited brain data he possesses:

Reposted From Your Black Life

Your Black Life: FOX News Host Sean Hannity Abuses Guest — Has History

Strangely, FOX News’ postal boy, Sean Hannity, has a detailed history of abusing his guests — especially those who don’t see the world through the narrow keyhole with which he analyzes reality. The radio/television host, who has rarely used his bully-pulpit for the good of society, shows why a college degree goes a long way in preventing mental decrepitude. Watch as he screams-down his guest, Robert Kuttner, on the pitiful FOX “News” show, Hannity & Colmes:

Also, check out a 2007 interview with Dr. Boyce Watkins, in which the same arrogant disposition of Hannity is displayed:

Your Black Politics: FOX News Host, Sean Hannity Says “Colored People” Repeatedly

FOX News postal Boy, Sean Hannity, used the derogatory term, “Colored People” profusely — as a descriptor for Black Politicians. In an argument with National Action Network founder, Al Sharpton, Hannity is relegated to anger, and inadvertently repeats the term one can only assume he uses at will — when the camera and mic are turned off. Pls. call FOX News, or send an email, to let them know that you do not wish to be categorized as “Colored” in 2008:

Your Black Woman: Elizabeth Hasselbeck Takes Unfair Swipe at Michelle Obama

Arch-Conservative and Co-Host of The View, suggests that Michelle Obama was granted special treatment in her June 18, appearance on The View. Anyone familiar with the mind of Hasselbeck, is aware of her morally-reprehensible statement earlier this year, where she made an absurd comparison between Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, saying “Would you say … I’m sure at some point Jeffrey Dahmer ate peanut butter sandwiches doesn’t make the fact that he ate people any less wrong.” Also, in an argument with fellow co-host, Sherri Shepherd, she alluded to Trinity United Church Of Christ being a Black Separatist union, asking, “Can white people go to that church?” — the fact that TUCC is said to be outnumbered by whites notwhithstanding. In this clip, Hasselbeck takes a strong and dishonest swipe at Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama:

 

Reposted From Your Black Life

Your Black Politics: Sen. Lynn Westmoreland Calls The Obamas “Uppity”

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who was born and raised in the South, said Thursday that he’s never heard the word “uppity” used in a racially loaded fashion — and meant nothing more than “elitist” when he applied it to Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

“If anyone read more into it, no undercurrent was intended,” Westmoreland spokesman Brian Robinson said this evening.

In a Washington D.C. conversation with reporters today, the two-term Sharpsburg congressman was discussing the speech of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin when he was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

According to The Hill, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill:

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

The quote quickly zipped around the Internet, causing Westmoreland’s office phones to ring off the hook.

Efforts to obtain comment from the Obama campaign in Georgia have been unsuccessful.

Though raised by a struggling, single mother, Obama studied at both Columbia University in New York and Harvard University. This spring, he apologized for his “poor word choices” at a California fund-raiser in which he described small-town Americans as “bitter” over the souring economy and clinging to religion and guns in response.

Hillary Clinton seized upon the “elitist” label in the primary, and Republicans have done so during their national convention in Minnesota — vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, among them.

But Obama supporters say the “elitist” title has sometimes served as cultural code for “uppity” — a word that for decades in the segregated South was applied to African-Americans who attempted to rise above servile positions…

Continued

Your Black Politics: Hillary Clinton, White Greed, and the Rage of White Female Racism

“… When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don’t believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought, ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife. I’m white. And this is mine. I just got to get up and step into the plate…’ Then out of nowhere came, hey, I’m Barack Obama. And she said, ‘Oh damn, where did you come from? I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show.’”

-The Rev. Father Michael Pfleger on Hillary Clinton

“For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama’s defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama’s sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women… Your whiteness is showing.”

-Tim Wise on Hillary Clinton’s white allegiant female supporters who oppose Obama.

It was quite a scene to behold at the DNC last week: White Women in their 50s, letting the world (or at least whoever cared to listen) know just why Barack Obama would not get their votes. No matter what he did or didn’t do, they made it explicitly clear that Sen. Obama would never have their support. They staged incoherent protests in the name of their cause: putting Hillary Clinton on the ballot for nomination. It wasn’t until Hillary Clinton posed a timely question to them – in her Tuesday night speech – that they began to see the virtue of not voting McCain. In a highly self-promoting speech, Sen. Clinton paused to query her anxious fans and supporters, “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?” The truth Hillary is much aware of is that a majority of that faction was indeed in the campaign for the sole reason of voting for her. Not for a woman, not for a white woman, but for a “Hillary Clinton type of woman”: white, elitist, rich and powerful.

When Barack Obama embarked on the prestigious journey of selecting a V.P, Sen. Clinton supporters all-but-informed him, that if he dared pick a female as his running mate, they would muster up whatever muscle amassable, and destroy his campaign…

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