Battle Blog #1: Michelle Obama vs. Clutch

So I’m on a mission to become a battle blogger. My new deal is finding bad writers, sell-outs and frauds and starting shit with them.

            Target 1: Althea Legal-Miller’s article in Clutch Magazine this morning

From the title I could tell where she was going with the article. Michelle Obama Undressed: Lost in Translation or Just Racist? Who wouldn’t pick racist? Racism is popular again. And who’s responsible? Clutch and Althea Legal Miller for taking the easy way out.

While she is aware of the background behind the image of Michelle Obama, Legal-Miller chose to gloss over the details and direct the readers to her simplistic view of things. “We must be vigilant” So look at things my way. I have to make it under the word limit so let me NOT bother to explain the article or the portrait. Let’s not bother with the fact that Michelle Obama is the only black subject in a portfolio of art nudes that includes Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Kate Middleton, Albert Einstein and The President. That doesn’t matter neither does it matter that the portrait is based on a portrait of a recently freed French slave, a symbol of freedom (for women and black people) in France.

            “Michelle Tataranieta De Esclava, Dueña De América” (Michelle Granddaughter of a Slave, Lady of America) It’s (Michelle great-granddaughter of slave, owner of America) Lost in Translation? How about, I didn’t even bother to translate? I’m just mad about a bunch of stuff in America so let’s just call it racist. That way, we don’t have to bother learning about other cultures or histories. Understanding people’s differences is not our job. They’re just supposed to understand us. How hard is that?

            Apparently, it must be easier to understand us than it is for a writer/journalist to use google chrome to translate the Spanish newspaper into English. And, of course, we’ve never met an artist who assumes we should already know what message they are trying to convey. So “obvious reasons” HAS to mean racism to us. Racism is the most obvious thing in America. Not freedom. Not growth. Not success. It’s all racism. Just ask Madame Noire (That’s right! I went in on two magazines) and listen for while to the video on the side. They actually mention judging people on character not race. Imagine that.

If Althea Legal-Miller and Brande Victorian are so concerned with being seen as slaves, maybe they will consider actually educating and informing readers instead of selling out their intelligence.