Michelle Obama and the “Ghetto Girls”: Part Two

Boy, did we hit an emotional vein with our “Michelle Obama -’Ghetto Girls’- Martha’s Vineyard” post in Monday’s “City Brights” column…

As of today, the Obama Family is racing toward the end of their weeklong vacation on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, just off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Right now, I can’t imagine this has been a completely peaceful respite from the Washington whirlwind, especially now, with the monumental death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy nearby.

In spite of his occasional failings, Ted Kennedy, a man who admired and was admired by President Obama, was one of the classiest gentlemen in American politics. A lifelong sailor, his sense of ebb-and-flow and give-and-take helped him to navigate any waters, from a legislative point of view. He once said, ” Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”. To me, that attitude shows class, finding a way to do good even if the solution is not as ideal as you might have imagined it could be, and having the patience and confidence to understand that perfection is the impossible objective of a lifetime of service.

Obama and Kennedy on the campaign trail

Anyway, the Obamas’ vacation rental was just miles away from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, which would have enabled the President to visit his good friend and Senate mentor one last time. As we discussed in the earlier post, the First Family was ensconced in Martha’s Vineyard, where for generations an elite group of wealthy African Americans has gathered to entertain one another. There was no controversy about their holiday plans, until some Vineyard resident whispered to a reporter for New York magazine that perhaps the First Lady would not fit in with the Vineyard’s moneyed elite because she had been raised on Chicago’s South Side, a place many consider a “ghetto”. The derisive term used for Michelle Obama was “ghetto girl”.

As soon as it was published, this unfortunate quote ignited a firestorm of controversy. In reaction, third-generation Martha’s Vineyard resident Abigail McGrath stepped in to defend the first lady by creating a t-shirt with the slogan “Ghetto Girls Rock!!! It’s not about where you’re from; it’s about where you’re going…” There followed a list of forty-eight distinguished women from US history, all of whom Abby considers to fit the sobriquet “ghetto girls”. All of the women came from less than wealthy backgrounds, all worked to improve society. The list is clearly intended to challenge the notion of poverty as a barrier to great accomplishment.

“Ghetto Girls Rock!!!” t-shirt design

In the reader comments from Monday’s post, the list, by itself, sparked its very own controversy on The Gate and other online forums where the piece was subsequently re-posted. Should Mother Teresa and Oprah even be on the same list? Would Barbara Jordan have been insulted to be called a “ghetto girl”? Were Frida Kahlo or Helen Keller really “ghetto”, since their families were relatively well-to-do?

Other questions surfaced. Is money enough to confer class upon someone? Buggedknot on The Gate thinks that money can’t buy class. “Class is not a social class, it is a state of mind and usually based on where you came from”. Sagigirl found the list of women who had risen despite the odds ” a true source of inspiration for us all.” Most commenters expressed their admiration for Mrs. Obama and pooh-poohed the notion that class distinctions should exist today. One reader forwarded over three dozen comments from a right-wing blog, many of them critical of the First Lady for all sorts of perceived social and style mistakes, but primarily critical of her husband’s liberal political positions, as though that had been the point of the article.

In the end, maybe Abigail’s shirt design is a clever ploy, challenging us to learn more about the biographies of these women of accomplishment, if for no better reason than to discuss them amongst ourselves and to debate the significance of their achievements. Maybe Arundhati Roy, Molly Pitcher or Dorothy West deserve a Google search.

And again, just maybe, Michelle Obama couldn’t give a hoot about the Vineyard “class“-ification bestowed upon her by some anonymous crank. After all, she is the First Lady of the United States. And the White House is not a ghetto.

This post was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle online edition The Gate.