Losing Our Way: The Attack on Michelle Obama and America at 250

by Bonnie D. Jenkins, Esq

As the United States of America approaches its 250th anniversary, the national conversation and activities emanating from the White House have, in part, turned to what the milestone reveals about who we are — and who we are not. Recent incidents, including public displays of disrespect toward Michelle Obama and derogatory treatment of Black people more broadly, have become flashpoints that force a reckoning of deeper questions: how does a country that calls itself an experiment in democracy reconcile pride in its history while trying to ignore the history of slavery, massive incarceration, and the persistence of racism, sexism, and frequent public degradation of its own diversity that has been the foundation of who we are?

Anniversaries are opportunities to reflect on the achievements and challenges of the past, celebrate common values, and, from those understandings, set a course for the future. This is what the administration should be doing, at least in part. However, there are no signs of a meaningful national reflection. When those occasions are instead overshadowed by spectacles of cruelty or by high-profile events that normalize name-calling, the nation’s image, both abroad and at home, is unfortunately diminished. Josh Hokit’s racial slur against Michelle Obama transcends a single insult; it is emblematic of the broader pattern in which Black people, especially Black women, are delegitimized in public discourse on a regular basis.

Let’s be clear. Anti-blackness certainly doesn’t begin or end with comments about Michelle Obama. But mocking her smacks of that larger trend of trying to erase Black women from the public sphere. Mocking Michelle Obama, an intelligent and accomplished role model for younger women, is part of that long cultural tradition that allows others to disrespect, villainize, and cast aside the voices of Black women with little repercussion. Those slurs and actions dredge up decades-old injustices and attitudes that civil-rights icons and everyday Americans have been battling for decades: years of gaslighting about who Black women are and are not, lies told for the benefit of the dominant culture whenever the needs suit them. For them, truth does not matter. The image the attackers want to portray is the target.

Disrespecting Black women, particularly those with platforms as large as Michelle Obama’s and whose family has the respect of millions around the world, has real-world implications because it is noticed. And let’s face it. When the President of the United States openly calls women stupid and piggy and is already a person who has a penchant for calling Black women names, the bar has already been set far too low. That statement on Sunday about Michelle Obama was not made by an individual alone. It was made by an individual invited to the White House, saluted by our military, and given a platform where he apparently felt comfortable shouting his racism to the entire world.

Celebrating America should give Americans the pride necessary to fight for what’s right. If celebrating America’s 250th year in two weeks has any significance at all, let’s use this opportunity to recommit to treating every American with dignity and respect and calling out those who do not. This moment demands moral clarity from citizens and institutions. If the 250th anniversary is to mean anything beyond pageantry, it should be a moment not to tolerate the kind of public degradation represented by attacks on Michelle Obama and Black people generally. Only by confronting those failures honestly can the country move toward a future that better reflects its promise.

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