I was having a conversation with one of my coworkers, and we were talking about women empowerment, and protecting our own. Somehow, we got on the topic of Michelle Obama, and she said:
“We don’t really like Michelle Obama, the way we say we do, we like her because we can’t reach her.”
That conversation has forever changed my perspective on the togetherness of black women.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Michelle and I think without her Barak Obama wouldn’t have been half the president he was.
Beside every strong man is a strong woman, I agree to all of that.
I just don’t agree that we like Michelle Obama as much as we project too.
When Michelle Obama released her book, it sold out within two hours. Lines were so long in NYC for her book signing meet-and-greet, I even tried to get off work to go support, but I ended up just putting it on my Christmas wish-list.
Back to the point. We as black women love black women when they can’t touch us. Yes, I said it.
We love Michelle Obama, Angela Bassette, Viola Davis, Shonda Rhimes, etc. Because, we know that we aren’t aiming for that position, or that they are in a position that can’t be touched.
However we have friends who are “Michelle Obama”, “Beyonce”, and Viola and it’s hard for us to support their business, clothing line, or even read their blog post.
But, when it was time to support Michelle Obama everybody dropped everything to STAN, don’t get me wrong I am here for black women uplifting black women, but I also wished it started at home.
By home, I mean within our own friendships and relationships. How many more Michelle Obama’s would there be, if we invested in our friends the way we invest in people we’ve never met?
How many more opportunities could brown girls achieve when they seek out a mentor and actually get a response, versus us, just screenshoting their comment in support of us, but never reaching out to give them the formula?
How many more internships and jobs could we have? If we opened the doors up to our sisters, and helped train them to be better?
Just think about, how the local singers, fashion designers, your cousin who's a hairstylist that you don’t pay, could have been worth, if we just paid a little more attention, and invested more time and money into their craft.
It’s enough room at the top for all of us, and I wonder how many Michelle Obama’s there would be, if we supported, loved on, bragged about, invested in, made better, uplifted, prayed about, and shared the air with.
Black women, we need each other more than anything. What’s the point of Michelle Obama, if it could only be, just one?
