Newsweek Adds Insights in a Week of 'Hear No Evil, See No Evil' Response to Iman's Parade Interview

Hopefully, you've had time to read the TIME cover story on Michelle Obama. One of my take aways -- not the first time the topic was discussed -- is the fact that there was tension in the Obama marriage, regarding President Obama's commitment to politics.

Speaking of Michelle, President Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope: " 'You only think about yourself,' she would tell me. 'I never thought I'd have to raise a family alone.' "

We tend to romanticize the Obama marriage as we see it today. And both Obamas admit that they actually have more balance now, more together time, than ever in their marriage. For feminists who suggest that Michelle Obama should have stayed in Chicago or sought an equally powerful job in D.C., Michelle says this was not the right decision for her.

I respect the Obamas for speaking openly about some of the tensions in their marriage and how they coped.

Public dialogue on controversial topics is generally healthy, but this was not the case with Iman's comments about Michelle Obama last weekend, or the supermodel's comments about being cultivated in the fashion industry, as the "house ni--er":

“I did feel a bit ostracized,” Iman says. “You suddenly represent a whole race, and that race goes, ‘Well, that person does not represent our ideals of beauty.’ For lack of a better term, it becomes what it was like during slavery. One had the field n— and the house n—. There was this notion that I was chosen by white fashion editors to be better than the rest, which I am not. I did not like being thought of as the house n— whether it was spoken or whether it was understood. It always left a bad taste in my mouth. I call it ‘the politics of beauty’ because fashion can sometimes be an assault on one’s identity.”

Mum was the word on this entire interview, on most African American blogs. I find a comment here; a thought there, but basically Iman's interview wasn't worthy of reasoned conversation.

Grabbing an opportunity to create dialogue around a subject that has been a source of great pain to African Americans wasn't seized, perhaps because of the trigger comments. I have no idea.

Newsweek has recirculated an excellent essay written by Allison Samuels, last November 2008. Called What Michelle Means to Us, Samuels does speak of these "no comment" topics that simmered through Iman's Parade magazine interview.

I recommend the Newsweek read What Michelle Means to Us, for those of us trying to gain insights into the challenges faced by America's African American women, from their point of view.

Best, Anne