The backlash former first lady (forever in our hearts) Michelle Obama is receiving is yet another example as to why she made the right decision to not attend in the first place. In case you missed it, outlets — CNN, Fox News, and The Washington Post — are running various reports about Obama’s decision to not attend the inauguration for President-elect Trump on Monday, Jan. 20. Martin Luther King Jr. Day for God’s sake.
Almost as if she’s committed treason, outlets are taking the news of her decision and labeling it as “breaking tradition.” They’re choosing to spin her decided absence as something tasteless and deplorable — as if Trump hasn’t embodied the concept throughout both presidential campaigns, his recent conviction, and the inhumane policy agenda he’s planned to prioritize while in office. Conviction and bigotry aside, Trump is the same person who publicly attacked Michelle Obama’s husband and former President Barack Obama, calling his American citizenship into question during a smear campaign which inadvertently put the lives and reputations of the Obamas at risk.
In 2016 when Trump was elected for his first term, Michelle Obama played her role as the dutiful first lady by upholding the tradition of attending the 2017 inauguration and supporting former President Obama in a peaceful transfer of executive power. However, in 2020 when it came time for former President Trump to partake in the same process after losing the presidential race to President Joe Biden, not only did he skip the inauguration and forgo tradition, he also refused to concede leading to the ultimate attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Prior to that, the former president had interrupted the tradition of routine press briefings from the White House, going as far as allowing months of silence in between briefings meant to keep the American people informed.
That sounds like anything but the embodiment of tradition, let alone the civility the President of the United States should possess. Yet, a woman who did not serve as a United States President but served eight years as America’s first lady, without scandal, and with the utmost grace is being ridiculed for not going where she is not respected.
But, I didn’t provide a pattern of breaking tradition to provide examples of justification for the former first lady’s decision nor was it to convince anyone that what’s happening to her is wrong. Whether or not anyone agrees with her decision is likely not a priority on Michelle Obama’s to-do list. She doesn’t owe anyone that. In fact, the only person that she owes is herself. Pointing out Trump’s pattern is less about him and more about the fact that the moment a Black woman makes a decision within her best interest — even if it doesn't hurt anyone else — she’s berated. That in itself is foul, but it’s not uncommon or surprising given the history America has of disrespecting and disregarding Black women since its inception.
I say all of this to bring attention to the fact that Michelle and Black women as a whole have taken the high road, shown up when asked or needed, and have taken the brunt of society’s maltreatment, but nothing is ever enough. And while that may sound pessimistic, what is even bleaker is the fact that it’s true.
America made its decision that it didn’t want the presence of Black women by the way the masses voted. The truth of the matter is that 92% of us fulfilled our Black job. We’ve done all that we’re willing to do and now, we will rest.
Everyone outside of the 92% of Black women indeed [redacted] around and now you’re finding out.
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