If Michelle Obama wore straight hair during her husband’s eight years as president, it was because she feared public backlash. This was explained on Tuesday in Washington to Ellen Degeneres during a press conference to promote her new book, This light in us.
The former first lady of the US sported long braids as she sat across from the former talk show host to answer her questions. A hairstyle that she banned herself during her years in the White House:
“(Americans) were getting used to” having a black family in the White House, he said, as reported by the Washington Post.
Although it would have been easier and more natural to wear them in braids, she recalled thinking, “No, (Americans) aren’t ready.”
Social problem
Because cases of discrimination against the natural hair of African-Americans regularly arise. The US media remember in particular the story of a 6-year-old boy who could not enter his school because of his dreadlocks in 2018, or that of a journalist whose superior had told him that his hair was “unprofessional” in 2019. Thus, last March, the US Congress approved the Crown Law, which prohibits discrimination related to hairstyle or hair texture.
“We have to deal with this,” said Michelle Obama, as reported by the guardian. “Asking us, ‘Are you going to work with your natural hair?’ It’s inevitable for African-Americans.”
Believing that braids in the White House could complicate the task of the Obama administration, which would have had to respond to comments that were anything but political, the former First Lady preferred to stick to brushing: “I will keep my hair straight and we will push for reform welfare,” he recalled thinking.
“They freaked out the day Barack wore a beige suit,” he said, referring to a 2014 controversy. “It was the great indignity, the Obama administration scandal.” The light attire of the suit, considered too casual, had occupied most of the comments, obscuring the president’s speech, which evoked the Islamic State.
Source: BFM TV
