Is race specific love keeping some of us from finding true love?

by today's Urban Chameleon contributor

I had to ask my mom where the concept of “Black love” came from. From what she could recall, “Black love” was born around the same time as “Black power”. At the time, significant power was in place to keep the Black community disenfranchised and so the idea was to unify in order to overcome oppression and gain basic human rights. Although times have changed, “Black love” still seems to be like a hot pair of shoes on a Neiman Marcus sale rack and I wondered if it’s still as imperative as it once was.

On several occasions, I've had friends pass up what looked like good love in hopes of finding “Black love.” For them Michelle and Barack Obama's relationship is a beacon of light that they spend their days tanning under. Some friends have been waiting years to meet the right one and have teased me for going out on dates with guys who weren’t Black. Although I haven’t met the right one yet, I’ve opened my mind and heart to the possibility of love and as a result have tasted food I probably never would have tried, traveled to places I might have never known, and learned things about cultures outside of my own making me even more of an Urban Chameleon. Meanwhile, those same friends seem to be missing out on life waiting for Obama’s twin brother to show up. It’s bad enough that most of us as young girls are disillusioned by the idea of Prince Charming sweeping us off our feet only to grow up to arguments over money, sex, and a bunch of other stuff that wasn’t a part of the fantasy. If the best Prince Charming real life can deliver us shows up...should we send him or her away just because they’re not of a certain race?

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Michelle Obama on Iron Chef

Urban Chameleon news

The Obama's continue to utilize pop culture to make change. By appearing on Iron Chef, First Lady Michelle Obama continues to promote her efforts of spreading the word about eating healthily and curbing childhood obesity.

Although First Lady Michelle Obama now has the White House chef for a cook, Michelle Obama has a secret to share with Iron Chef fans. On January 3, 2010 The Food Network is kicking off the new year with an everyday American theme that begins with First Lady Michelle Obama and White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford on The Iron Chef America. Following the Michelle Obama guest appearance on Iron Chef America, Food Network fans will be treated to the debut of Worst Cooks in America.

The Washington Post reports that on the first episode of Iron Chef America for 2010, the popular food cooking competition will travel to the nation's capital for a tour of The White House with executive chef Cristeta Comerford. In the Iron Chef episode, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Emeril Lagasse are greeted by the First Lady Michelle Obama who informs the chefs of the secret ingredient in the White House garden used for daily Presidential meals. Aside from Michelle Obama greeting the chefs, it will be interesting to see if Batali, Flay or Lagasse can take down Comerford on his home Obama turf since the current White House executive chef has worked on site for the past fourteen years prior to the Obama administration.

Immediately following Michelle Obama on Iron Chef America is the new Food Network series, Worst Cooks in America, which features chefs Anne Burrell and Beau MacMillan as they take the worst cooks from America and teach them how to become elite chefs.

With Michelle Obama kicking off the New Year on the Food Network, budding cooks can learn Obama style White House culinary skills or check out how to cook from worst to first.

-- Troy Rogers

source from: www.deadbolt.com

President Obama Hosts India's Singh for First State Visit

Urban Chameleon news

President Barack Obama says the U.S. partnership with India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century. Mr. Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to reporters after a two-hour meeting.

President Barack Obama says the U.S. partnership with India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century. The statement came as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the first state visit of the Obama presidency. The leaders of the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest pledged to work together to strengthen the global economy, curb climate change, limit the spread of nuclear weapons and fight terrorism. After a two-hour meeting with Mr. Obama, Prime Minister Singh told reporters he has invited the president and his family to visit him in India next year. "I have invited President Obama to visit India. A very warm welcome awaits him, his gracious wife and his two daughters," said Mr. Singh. Mr. Obama praised his visitor as an honest and wise man, and accepted his offer. "I have happily accepted his gracious invitation to visit India next year," he said. After their meeting, Mr. Obama said he and the Indian leader had agreed to "work even closer" to share information between their law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism. Mr. Singh promised to cooperate more closely with the U.S. to defeat terrorists. "The forces of terrorism in our region pose a grave threat to the entire civilized world, and have to be defeated," he said. When questioned about the long-standing rivalry between India and Pakistan, Mr. Obama said it is not Washington's role to try to resolve the conflict from the outside. But he said the U.S. can find ways to help. "On the other hand, we want to be encouraging of ways in which both India and Pakistan can feel secure and focus on the development of their own countries and their people," Mr. Obama said. The U.S. is India's largest trading partner, and the president paid tribute to India's large and growing economic role in Asia and throughout the world. The United States and India have disagreed on their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases, with the climate change summit taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark next month. But Mr. Obama said the two leaders had moved a step closer to bridging the gap. The day ended with the Obama administration's first state dinner. The president honored Mr. Singh with a toast in which he celebrated a "great and growing partnership" between the two countries. "To the future that beckons all of us," he said. "Let us answer its call and let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us." Prime Minister Singh told the president he was overwhelmed by the Obamas' hospitality, and he called Mr. Obama an inspiration. "Mr. President, your journey to the White House has captured the imagination of millions and millions of people in India," he said. More than 330 guests attended the dinner, which was held in an elaborate tent on the White House lawn, instead of the usual location for such events, the much smaller State Dining Room. source from www1.voanews.com


In other news First Lady Michelle Obama looked smoking hot in a gleaming silver-sequined, cream-colored gown (last) night to the first state dinner held by her husband’s administration. She was tending to her hostess duties in a strapless silhouette with the beads forming an abstract floral pattern that was custom-made by (Indian designer) Naeem Khan.
source from apakistannews.com

Mixed-Race TV Contestant Ignites Debate In China

Urban Chameleon news

President Obama's arrival in China on Sunday is being eagerly awaited by many people, especially one young woman in Shanghai. Lou Jing is of mixed race, with a Chinese mother and an African-American father. She became famous nationally after her participation in an American Idol-type program sparked a spate of vitriolic online racist abuse.

For Lou, the reality television show turned out to be a lesson in brutal reality. The talent contest is called Go! Oriental Angel, and the 20-year-old made it through preliminary rounds to become one of 30 contestants.

Lou is studying for a degree in television anchoring at Shanghai's prestigious Theater Academy, and her teachers thought it would be a good opportunity. But from the very first, the focus was on her skin color.

Spotlight Cast Ugly Shadows

Introducing Lou, the host said, "her chocolate-colored skin lights up her sunny character."

In a short yellow satin frock, Lou launched into a rap she had written to introduce herself to the audience. In retrospect, this moment probably marks the end of Lou's innocence — and the start of a process of questioning her own identity.

"When I was young, I didn't really know I was different from other people," she says. "It was only after entering the competition that I realized I was different from others."

The show drew attention to her background, which is very unusual for China. She was raised in a single-parent family by her Shanghainese mother, who is a teacher. Her African-American father, whom she has never met, returned to the United States without even knowing he had conceived a child in China.

On air, her mother, Sun Min, said she had only ever had one conversation with Lou about her father. She described how her then-7-year-old daughter had asked about him.

"I didn't answer and immediately started crying," Sun recalled. "From then on, Lou Jing never asked again."

Painful Fallout

In her two months on air, Lou was nicknamed the "Chocolate Angel" and the "Black Pearl" by the media. She wasn't bothered by these names, she says.

But online, the poison pens were venomous. Chinese posting messages on the Web criticized her skin color as "gross" and "ugly"; they called her shameless for appearing on television. The worst insults were reserved for her mother for having had a relationship with an African-American out of wedlock. Lou and her mother are now suing one Shanghai newspaper for libel.

There were online statements of support as well, but the verbal attacks stunned Lou.

"I looked at the posts and I cried. Then I didn't look at them anymore. I decided I would do my best to go abroad to study," she says.

The Obama Parallels

Before, on the street, people might say things like, 'How come she looks like that?' But that was just a small number of people. When I was younger, I thought life was beautiful. Why is it that now I've grown up, I don't think that anymore?

- Lou Jing, 20-year-old Shanghai woman whose mother is Chinese and father is African-American

Lou sees Obama as a motivational figure and hopes his visit to China will be televised live. The parallels haven't gone unnoticed: One well-known blogger and magazine publisher, Hong Huang, remarked that even as the U.S. was welcoming Obama to the White House, Chinese people were unable to accept a girl whose skin color was different.

China's economic progress has been astounding, but Lou Jing's cautionary tale exposes the fact that social attitudes still lag far behind.

For now, Lou is still on TV, guest-hosting a variety show showcasing different regional dialects. It's a job she had lined up before her appearance on Oriental Angel, she says. Since then, she hasn't had a single work offer — no advertising contracts or modeling jobs, either.

Her dream is of escape. She wants to study journalism at Columbia University. She believes the lack of knowledge about racism in China is such that many people didn't even realize their comments were discriminatory or hurtful. But for her, the world suddenly seems a different place.

"Before, on the street, people might say things like, 'How come she looks like that?' But that was just a small number of people. When I was younger, I thought life was beautiful. Why is it that now I've grown up, I don't think that anymore?" she says.

read full article on npr.org

First Lady Michelle Obama Appears on Sesame Street for 40th Anniversary

Urban Chameleon news

First Lady Michelle Obama teaches kids about being healthy by helping to plant a vegetable garden on Sesame Street as a apart of the 40th anniversary of the show.

The first episode of the new season on Tuesday (today) hits exactly on the anniversary of the show's premiere in 1969. You may know, as avid followers of the first lady, that this is Mrs. Obama's second "Sesame Street" appearance; she was quite excited in May about meeting Elmo at the show's studios in Astoria, Queens, to tape a public service announcement.

"I never thought I'd be on 'Sesame Street' with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I'm still thrilled. I'm on a high. I think it's probably the best thing I've done at the White House," she said then.
source from Lynn Sweet on politicsdaily.com

First Lady Michelle Obama Double Dutches

Urban Chameleon Spotlight

Now if this is not an Urban Chameleon moment I just don't know what is. Laura Bush what you know about this!














source from Newsweek

Tracing Michelle Obama's Roots

Urban Chameleon news

In First Lady’s Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery

New York Times
By RACHEL L. SWARNS and JODI KANTOR




WASHINGTON — In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.

In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.

In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, marked the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.

Melvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Michelle Obama, the first lady.Viewed by many as a powerful symbol of black advancement, Mrs. Obama grew up with only a vague sense of her ancestry, aides and relatives said. During the presidential campaign, the family learned about one paternal great-great-grandfather, a former slave from South Carolina, but the rest of Mrs. Obama’s roots remained a mystery.

The newly discovered story of Mrs. Obama’s maternal ancestors — the slave mother, white father and their biracial son, Dolphus T. Shields — for the first time fully connects the first African-American first lady to the history of slavery, tracing their five-generation journey from bondage to a front-row seat to the presidency. The findings — uncovered by Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist, and The New York Times — substantiate what Mrs. Obama has called longstanding family rumors about a white forbear.

While President Obama’s biracial background has drawn considerable attention, his wife’s pedigree, which includes American Indian strands, highlights the complicated history of racial intermingling, sometimes born of violence or coercion, that lingers in the bloodlines of many African-Americans. Mrs. Obama and her family declined to comment for this article, aides said, in part because of the personal nature of the subject.

“She is representative of how we have evolved and who we are,” said Edward Ball, a historian who discovered that he had black relatives — the descendants of his white slave-owning ancestors — when he researched his memoir, “Slaves in the Family.”

“We are not separate tribes of Latinos and whites and blacks in America,” Mr. Ball said. “We’ve all mingled, and we have done so for generations.”

The outlines of Mrs. Obama’s family history unfolded from 19th century probate records, yellowing marriage licenses, fading photographs and the recollections of elderly women who remember the family.

Read full article on NY Times

A glowing 'Portrait' of the Obamas' rock-solid marriage

Urban Chameleon news

A biography out Tuesday on Michelle and Barack's relationship. Like most couples, they've had their rough spots.

source: USA Today
article by Craig Wilson

Christopher Andersen interviewed more than 200 people for an intimate look at the pair in Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage (William Morrow, $25.99).
Andersen, 60, a former senior editor at People magazine and author of 29 biographies, including The Day Diana Died, calls his new book "a positive story. A love story."
The White House had no comment.
"What's odd is that our first non-white first family is really the most all-American, down-to-earth couple we've ever had in the White House," Andersen said in an interview with USA TODAY. "They're comfortable in their own skins."
But they've had bumps along the way.
Left alone for long periods of time while her husband built his political career, Michelle Obama grew frustrated, Andersen says. "I think she could have walked at one point. She felt abandoned."
One thing that brought the couple back together was when daughter Sasha, now 8, was diagnosed with life-threatening spinal meningitis as an infant. She recovered.
And once Michelle, 45, decided there was no stopping the Obama bandwagon, she jumped on, Andersen says.
"She's the reason he is where he is," the author says. "She taught him how to be an effective politician to punch harder against Hillary, for instance."
Andersen also says Michelle Obama is "wary" of the Clintons, and that's why Hillary wasn't the vice presidential candidate: "Michelle didn't want the Clintons down the hall."

click here to read full article on USA today

Michelle Obama in Poom Poom Shorts?

Urban Chameleon news

Ok I know poom poom shorts when I see them and these are not it people. Please stop the controversy!

article: Michelle Obama short shorts spark long talks

So here we are again. The biggest scandal to hit the White House: How much skin is really in? Hours upon hours have been spent talking about what a first lady should or should not wear. First, it was whether or not she had the right to “bare arms,” and now, pictures of Michelle wearing “short” shorts while on holiday with her family during yesterday’s trip to the Grand Canyon are sparking a similar debate. While most women would agree that shorts (at any length) are often tough to pull off, I think we should line up with hands raised to offer her a high five. And since she is gifted with those long legs, I beg the question — wouldn't all shorts be "short" on her? So to be “short” and to the point (pun intended), what do you think about Michelle dressing relaxed like the rest of us? Is it OK for her to be casual and comfortable with her body? Or do you feel she should be more conservative, offering a polished reserved example at all times?

click here for whole article

Now I could see if she was wearing this.














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White Men Judging Sotomayor

by today's Urban Chameleon

I find it absolutely absurd that in this Senate hearing made up of primarily white men that some of them still have the AUDACITY to question Sotomayor's judicial ability because of her statements (taken out of context) about being a Latino women. Here they are tossing around the term "protecting the tradition of this country" as if that same tradition is what has not kept people of color at a disadvantage for so long. Post racism society my ass. It's unfortunate that some of these white men can't see how NOT having ever experienced racism has flawed some of their decisions.

Sotoyomayor, an Urban Chameleon for as you see, honoring where you come from and getting ahead is such a balancing act.
















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