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Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide - full text available
Politico.com ^ | 2/22/2008 | Jeffrey Ressner

Posted on 02/22/2008 9:25:40 PM PST by GVnana

Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide

By: Jeffrey Ressner
Feb 22, 2008 04:20 PM EST
Updated: February 22, 2008 08:07 PM EST

Michelle Obama's senior year thesis at Princeton University, obtained from the campaign by Politico, shows a document written by a young woman grappling with a society in which a black Princeton alumnus might only be allowed to remain "on the periphery." Read the full thesis here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

"My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," the future Mrs. Obama wrote in her thesis introduction. "I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."

The thesis, titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" and written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, in 1985, has been the subject of much conjecture on the blogosphere and elsewhere in recent weeks, as it has been "temporarily withdrawn" from Princeton's library until after this year's presidential election in November. Some of the material has been written about previously, however, including a story last year in the Newark Star Ledger.

Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her "further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barackhusseinobama; chebama; cultofobama; husseinobama; nobama
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To: ncalburt

You obviously have a lot to learn.


41 posted on 02/22/2008 10:08:57 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: hole_n_one
back in my daze it was these (70s) light/no ash...ganj today is too sticky from what I can tell to use such light papers


42 posted on 02/22/2008 10:10:54 PM PST by wardaddy (The fact that a radical like Obama can get nominated here makes me ashamed for my nation.)
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To: KayEyeDoubleDee
The MSM will never touch this story.

Well, they'll never touch it

if they think it will hurt her.

Or Obama.

If it glorifies her,

or him,

they'll print it in a New York minute.

43 posted on 02/22/2008 10:11:43 PM PST by GOPJ (Do the editors of the L.A. Times realize that illegal immigration is, you know, illegal? Patterico)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Good point.

But as your post pointed out, the real question is: Has she progressed past that mindset since her college days? Is she espousing the same notions today? And from what I’ve seen so far, the answer appears to be Yes.

So seen in that light, the thesis offers a glimpse into the history of that mindset.


44 posted on 02/22/2008 10:14:54 PM PST by RepublitarianRoger2
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To: Travis McGee
birkenstockers traded up to Gucci loafers.
45 posted on 02/22/2008 10:15:40 PM PST by ashtanga
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To: isthisnickcool
This is college level work?

I was a history major. We always had issues with sociologists, so I'll admit a bias here.

Here's an interesting line from Wikipedia:

"Sociological research provides educators, planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business leaders, and people interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy with rationales for the actions that they take.

We're the lab rats.

46 posted on 02/22/2008 10:15:53 PM PST by GVnana ("They're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?" - GWB)
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To: GVnana

More here:

http://hotair.com/headlines/?p=7480


47 posted on 02/22/2008 10:17:33 PM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: RepublitarianRoger2

Marxist tommyrot.


48 posted on 02/22/2008 10:17:59 PM PST by ashtanga
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To: RepublitarianRoger2

I don’t know about that. The church they are affiliated with is separatist and supremacist.


49 posted on 02/22/2008 10:19:43 PM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
I think there are many people who will agree with you. However, Michelle Obama opened the door with a very revealing statement about her sentiments toward this country. A country that has been very good to her.

She's not acting like a friend.

50 posted on 02/22/2008 10:21:41 PM PST by GVnana ("They're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?" - GWB)
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To: ncalburt
Hey, dumbass.

I just had a peak at your limited, but overwhelmingly pathetic posting history on FR.

You've accused just about everybody you've come in contact with with being an Obama supporter.

What are you, ignorant?

51 posted on 02/22/2008 10:22:21 PM PST by hole_n_one
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To: sageb1

Sage, was your post intended for me? Because your statement would appear to support my point rather than detract from it. Or maybe I’m just not understanding you properly.


52 posted on 02/22/2008 10:24:23 PM PST by RepublitarianRoger2
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To: GVnana

Forgive me if I am being repetitive:

Obama’s Communist Mentor

http://newswithviews.com/Kincaid/cliff209.htm


53 posted on 02/22/2008 10:28:40 PM PST by SOSUSA
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To: littlehouse36

Bump for later.


54 posted on 02/22/2008 10:31:09 PM PST by Yogafist
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To: GVnana

When I read her thesis I wasn’t shocked or offended by the subject matter. I was amazed that it was, at best, written on a middle school level.


55 posted on 02/22/2008 10:55:06 PM PST by SlapHappyPappy
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To: GVnana
Reminds me of the Paul McCartney song, "I, I, Me, Me, Mine." Never saw so much of the first person in an academic paper. Oh well. She was a sociology major.

That was George Harrison's song, but point taken.

56 posted on 02/22/2008 10:55:17 PM PST by Bird Jenkins
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To: Mrs Zip

ping


57 posted on 02/22/2008 10:56:15 PM PST by zip (((Remember: DimocRat lies told often enough become truth to 48% of all Americans (NRA)))))
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To: GVnana

Those small snippets make me think she needed therapy.

What incredibly poor self esteem.


58 posted on 02/22/2008 11:06:14 PM PST by Names Ash Housewares
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To: SlapHappyPappy; Names Ash Housewares

I can’t believe I’m reading Michelle Obama’s 25 year old college work at 1am in nashville while my large brood sleeps but this struck me:

“To research her thesis, the future Mrs. Obama sent an 18-question survey to a sampling of 400 black Princeton graduates, requesting the respondents define the amount of time and “comfort” level spent interacting with blacks and whites before they attended the school, as well as during and after their University years. Other questions dealt with their individual religious beliefs, living arrangements, careers, role models, economic status, and thoughts about lower class blacks. In addition, those surveyed were asked to choose whether they were more in line with a “separationist and/or pluralist” viewpoint or an “integrationist and/or assimilationist” ideology.

Just under 90 alums responded to the questionnaires (for a response rate of approximately 22 percent) and the conclusions were not what she expected. “I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.”

I wonder how she handled that, it didn’t seem to alter her own need to stay identified....something she wishes today twenty years alter to project on the rest of us.


59 posted on 02/22/2008 11:11:57 PM PST by wardaddy (The fact that a radical like Obama can get nominated here makes me ashamed for my nation.)
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To: GVnana

Shouldn’t a college thesis be about more than one’s own insecurities? Maybe that is what passes for education in the US. Liberals run Universities, so why not?


60 posted on 02/22/2008 11:21:27 PM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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