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SCLC Head, Charles Steele Jr. Says Michelle Obama Treated More Roughly Because of Slave Heritage

June 22, 2008 By 4 Comments

charles+steele SCLC Head, Charles Steele Jr. Says Michelle Obama Treated More Roughly Because of Slave HeritageWell, I think I have heard it all. The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Charles Steele Jr., said that Michelle Obama has been the recipient of rougher treatment than her husband for a reason. He said that one has ancestors who were slaves and the other doesn’t, meaning the Obamas.

Listen to a portion of his speech here.

Barack Obama is “of the system. He’s going to be in the system,” Steele told a morning gathering of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.“Why are they attacking Michelle Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and not really attacking, to that degree, her husband?” Steele asked. “Because he has no slave blood in him. He does not have any slave blood in him, but Michelle does.

“This system is an issue. I don’t care what you say. You can’t expect the system that enslaved you save you,” Steele said. Steele admitted to the crowd that his remarks about the Obamas were intended to be provocative, but afterwards declined to expand upon them. If you ask me, his comments were idiotic, at best!

The SCLC said his larger point was that — even should Obama win the presidency in November, the problems faced African-Americans will still require an outside voice. I don’t believe for a minute that Michelle Obama is being treated roughly because she has slave blood. Hello people, how is that relevant to anything? Michelle Obama is being “roughed” up because of her views and the fact that she is a pretty vocal and outspoken person. Aren’t there more important things for the SCLC to worry about–crime in the inner city, high drop out rates, low voting rates among inner city blacks, etc? I will not take away from the fact that Mr. Steele is a civil rights icon in his own rights and that he has given his life to the improvement of blacks in America, but his comments were unfounded and totally off-base. His comments beg the question of why we continue to talk about slavery in this country as though it will determine our future. From Steele’s comments, it would seem that the very thing that we used to denigrate us, is being used to define us. Just my thoughts, you be the judge….

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  • Brother OMi

    I have to disagree with him…
    I don’t think its because he has slave blood and she doesn’t. I don’t think the people attacking Obama and his wife are that sophisticated.

    Bottom line, and the folks at whataboutourdaughters.com can vouch for me on this, it’s because she is a black women. the lives of black women are very devalued in this society.

  • Janet Shan

    Brother Omi, I agree with you. I really think that the right wing media hounding her has nothing to do with her slave heritage. Quite the contrary. Yes, I agree that the problem they have with her is the fact that they never, in a million years, expected a sister to potentially become the next first lady. As always, thanks for the comments.

  • rikyrah

    WHat’s the elephant in the room. It’s not just because she’s a Black woman.

    It’s because she’s a VISIBLY Black woman.

    I have a seriously hard time believing that if she were light-skinned, with curly hair, that these attacks would be happening with her.

    Oh, because she’s a Black woman, yes.

    But, Michelle is a VISIBLY BLACK WOMAN.

    The thought that THIS B-L-A-C-K woman would be on ‘that pedestal’… moving and shaking things..influencing fashion trends (like she did with the sellout of her dress on The View)

    People…some people can’t take it.

  • lena

    My comments from WAOD….

    honestly, dr. steele is right, but i will add that i also agree with brother omi too – she’s black american and female. double whammy.

    “lena said…

    well….i think it came out poorly, but i think mr. steele was right. i’ve believed that michelle was more aggressively attacked because she is black american, generally meaning she is a long-term north american descended from slaves.

    michelle obama is attacked more fiercely than barack because she directly represents (to racists) those native blacks that had a long history of being hated in the u.s. long-term black americans are considered less acceptable than many other non-whites, including even africans.

    her presence, her lineage gives the racists easy fuel to try to shut her down, make her feel ashamed of who she is, which is why klan-branding images, lynching jokes, etc. can be made about michelle, not obama.

    michelle is no lightweight and can handle such insults, but it still doesn’t mean people won’t target her and sling them.

    basically, it’s like a “remember your place, ni****”, don’t get uppity because this is what we used to do to you (lynch, cross-burn, branding, etc.)

    The same can’t be said for obama because he doesn’t have that same history in america. the old skool racists insults don’t apply to him, would not be relevant, if that makes any sense. i mean think about it, lynching jokes and klan imagery from the 20′s.. barack’s lineage has nothing to do with that.

    while africans were oppressed and colonized too, their history is still a separate experience from the american historical experience.

    i think dr. steele is right and he doesn’t have to be quiet just to keep idiots like limbaugh from making comments. rush limbaugh will make comments ANYWAY. if you say michelle obama is intelligent or beautiful, he’d have something to say about that to.

    so on this one, i think the civil right-ers should be let off the hook. It’s not palying “the race card” just pointing out a fact.
    “