Posted on 02/22/2008 9:25:40 PM PST by GVnana
Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide
By: Jeffrey Ressner
Feb 22, 2008 04:20 PM EST
Updated: February 22, 2008 08:07 PM EST
Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton University, obtained from the campaign by Politico, shows a document written by a young woman grappling with a society in which a black Princeton alumnus might only be allowed to remain "on the periphery." Read the full thesis here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."
The thesis, titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" and written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, in 1985, has been the subject of much conjecture on the blogosphere and elsewhere in recent weeks, as it has been "temporarily withdrawn" from Princeton's library until after this year's presidential election in November. Some of the material has been written about previously, however, including a story last year in the Newark Star Ledger.
Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her "further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
You obviously have a lot to learn.
Well, they'll never touch it
if they think it will hurt her.
Or Obama.
If it glorifies her,
or him,
they'll print it in a New York minute.
Good point.
But as your post pointed out, the real question is: Has she progressed past that mindset since her college days? Is she espousing the same notions today? And from what I’ve seen so far, the answer appears to be Yes.
So seen in that light, the thesis offers a glimpse into the history of that mindset.
I was a history major. We always had issues with sociologists, so I'll admit a bias here.
Here's an interesting line from Wikipedia:
"Sociological research provides educators, planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business leaders, and people interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy with rationales for the actions that they take.
We're the lab rats.
Marxist tommyrot.
I don’t know about that. The church they are affiliated with is separatist and supremacist.
She's not acting like a friend.
I just had a peak at your limited, but overwhelmingly pathetic posting history on FR.
You've accused just about everybody you've come in contact with with being an Obama supporter.
What are you, ignorant?
Sage, was your post intended for me? Because your statement would appear to support my point rather than detract from it. Or maybe I’m just not understanding you properly.
Forgive me if I am being repetitive:
Obama’s Communist Mentor
http://newswithviews.com/Kincaid/cliff209.htm
Bump for later.
When I read her thesis I wasn’t shocked or offended by the subject matter. I was amazed that it was, at best, written on a middle school level.
That was George Harrison's song, but point taken.
ping
Those small snippets make me think she needed therapy.
What incredibly poor self esteem.
I can’t believe I’m reading Michelle Obama’s 25 year old college work at 1am in nashville while my large brood sleeps but this struck me:
“To research her thesis, the future Mrs. Obama sent an 18-question survey to a sampling of 400 black Princeton graduates, requesting the respondents define the amount of time and “comfort” level spent interacting with blacks and whites before they attended the school, as well as during and after their University years. Other questions dealt with their individual religious beliefs, living arrangements, careers, role models, economic status, and thoughts about lower class blacks. In addition, those surveyed were asked to choose whether they were more in line with a “separationist and/or pluralist” viewpoint or an “integrationist and/or assimilationist” ideology.
Just under 90 alums responded to the questionnaires (for a response rate of approximately 22 percent) and the conclusions were not what she expected. “I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.”
I wonder how she handled that, it didn’t seem to alter her own need to stay identified....something she wishes today twenty years alter to project on the rest of us.
Shouldn’t a college thesis be about more than one’s own insecurities? Maybe that is what passes for education in the US. Liberals run Universities, so why not?
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