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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has been the subject of much conjecture on the blogosphere and elsewhere in recent weeks, as it has been "temporarily withdrawn" from Princeton's library until after this year's presidential election in November.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: littlehouse36
Compared to HRC's thesis, this is much better. It is at least about something. The self-indulgent crap in the introduction conceals an attempt to present a hypothesis and then test it.

But it's not nearly as bad as HRC's thesis, which was an especially long 10th grade essay.

61 posted on 02/22/2008 11:25:54 PM PST by ModelBreaker
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To: GVnana

Majored in Women’s studies? If not, my money is on Diversity training.


62 posted on 02/22/2008 11:28:49 PM PST by Xenophon450 (I guess I'll never know, some things under the sun can never be understood...)
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To: wardaddy

No one rolls the kind anymore. Like you say it’s too sticky and way too powerful for joints. It’s all about pipes and bong loads.

I heard.


63 posted on 02/22/2008 11:37:06 PM PST by ARE SOLE (Agents Ramos and Campean are in prison at this very moment.. (A "Concerned Citizen".)
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To: informavoracious
probably because that is how you see yourself...

Same thought came to my mind, yet, in all fairness, the white race cannot truly comprehend the innate and inbred culture of the black race. These two races, overall, have two separate cultures.

What inspired Michelle's recent "pride" comment that, for the first time in her adult life, she has reason to be proud of the U.S.?

Because a man who is half-black and half-white has reached the "pinnacle" of vying for the presidency of this country?

Probably.

64 posted on 02/23/2008 12:23:11 AM PST by IIntense
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To: wardaddy
I scanned through the thesis myself and was struck by the lack of common statistical calculations. No means, medians, correlations or coefficients of determination given, for instance. Did she even perform basic regression analyses on her data? If so, where are the resulting numbers?

She got only 89 responses out of a mailing to 400 black graduates of Princeton. So her response rate was not real exciting, and her resulting sample very small. Also, the Registrar's Office personnel at Princeton pulled her original 400-person sample out of 1200 black graduates' records, and presumably they did the mailing for her. Now, I know that a student cannot be given access to such records, but it is interesting that the Registrar was willing to have personnel do this work for a student. That's quite accommodating since at the time (no computers) it would have been a fair amount of work for them to do this.

Finally, there is a mistake on one page that I found while doing just a very quick scan: the two words "a part" as in "a part of" were spelled as one word: "apart". In the days when this thesis was produced, even small errors like that were thought to be pretty serious. Not what I would have expected from an Ivy League senior thesis.

65 posted on 02/23/2008 12:29:48 AM PST by Irene Adler (')
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To: GVnana

Looks like an affirmative action degree with that crap writing. Case closed.


66 posted on 02/23/2008 12:50:15 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: wardaddy
An 18-question survey to 400 black Princeton graduates. Less than 90 responded. Not surprising. OK. She's a young, unexperienced woman and, obviously naive if she expected these grads to accommodate her and her silly questionnaire.

The racial divide and cultural differences still exist in this country. The majority of citizens are white (so far) and they are the ones who mostly built this nation.

Neither of the races have yet blended into one, and because of that, we have not reached the time when a non-white president should lead the whole country.

67 posted on 02/23/2008 12:51:12 AM PST by IIntense
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To: GVnana

Her premise is so far out, it’s suggestive of mental problems. I practically learned to crawl, toddle and walk in the libraries of Princeton, and it was more diverse than the UN. Don’t tell me a black woman felt “peripheral” there.

(Oh wait. She was absorbing African-American studies. I was mostly in the sciences where they learn about reality.)


68 posted on 02/23/2008 1:35:25 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( Peel back tabs for tagline. Do not remove this label. Obey.)
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To: GVnana

Gawd! It’s WORSE than African-American studies. It was the dept of sociology! No wonder!


69 posted on 02/23/2008 1:37:25 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ( Peel back tabs for tagline. Do not remove this label. Obey.)
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To: GVnana

ping


70 posted on 02/23/2008 2:27:38 AM PST by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: GVnana
Now we understand better why Obama doesn't need race-baiters Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, he has Michelle!
71 posted on 02/23/2008 4:00:29 AM PST by TexasCajun
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To: hole_n_one; ncalburt
A MeCain noob, signed up just pimp he candidate as a real Conservative.

Thrashing and belittling anyone who dares disparage his like-minded Liberal Republican.

Sounds like a MeCain campaign worker, pissing on our leg, telling us its only rain.

72 posted on 02/23/2008 4:13:39 AM PST by TexasCajun
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To: GVnana

So get rid of “affirmative action”, eliminate special race-based privileges, make all pay tuition equally based on their income, not race, do away with race norming, promote all based on performance, not race, and magically all Michelle’s problems go away and she has the same respect as all other people.


73 posted on 02/23/2008 4:16:43 AM PST by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged

And, perhaps more importantly, a real self-respect. Maybe it’s just me, but how can anyone who receives preferential treatment EVER be sure that they are good enough? Ever? The honest individual will always have to wonder, won’t they?

I am amazed at those that argue in favor of affirmative action that the policy merely grants the opportunity (uh, yeah. OK.) Even if that’s true, the field was already slanted. No? Don’t you go in through the door on your first day grateful for the opportunity to prove yourself knowing that you never can, knowing you’ve been given something that should have been earned? And then to turn around and argue that you’ve somehow not been embraced by the larger segment of society!

I have long held that Affirmative Action is the single-most destructive policy for racial equality ever devised by man. It merely perpetuates division and only allows those affected to argue racial politics with a somewhat larger vocabulary.


74 posted on 02/23/2008 5:12:25 AM PST by MarDav
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged
do away with race norming,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ok,,,Then do away with “legacy” admissions which highly favor whites and penalize blacks, Hispanics, and hard working Asians.

75 posted on 02/23/2008 5:14:01 AM PST by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: alecqss

Individuals like “Michelle obama” will in keeping with their family instilled paranoia, continue to perpetuate “Da Man” is keeping them down.

Neither the Obama’s or Shrillary’s are proud of their country and wish to destroy all that is good about America.

Michelle, is nothing more than a “Mau Mau” chopping at the bits for power to unleash her hatred for all Americans, especially Caucasians who have kept her down.

The reality is, Michelle is the real racist, who blames the white man for her own insecure, paranoid psychosis in life.

Michelle is unfit like her husband and the klintoon’s to ever occupy the Oval Office.

Possibily, Michelle envisions that Blacks are being strung up across America, White-Colored restrooms, water fountains and separate lunch counters are still in existence.

Too bad, Michelle. “ That was Then and This is Now.”

Released for early damage control to placate the mass of fools who will vote for her empty suited husband.

Respectfully,
NSNR


76 posted on 02/23/2008 5:25:31 AM PST by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: wintertime

No, let admissions be based on the merit of the most qualified, regardless of race, color, creed or ethnic denomination.

Norming is nothing more than lowering the standards, so less qualified can obtain admisson.

A simple syllogism, “Admit the best and the best will continue to keep America the best.”

Quality fars outweighs the end results of Quantity in this life, or the next.

Respectfully,
NSNR


77 posted on 02/23/2008 5:39:44 AM PST by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: GVnana

I’d have a hard time writing 50,000 words about my skin.


78 posted on 02/23/2008 6:08:37 AM PST by sergeantdave (Governments hate armed citizens more than armed criminals)
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged
That would make sense to anyone but a sociologist.

Should've known you scratch the surface and get a socialist. Democrats are pathetically weak on philosophy.

There's a sociology professor at US Davis that has published a little guidebook on everything from fish to gasoline -- what to buy and what not to buy. Top rated oil company, Citgo. Yeah! It's making big waves with the liberal set.

These are the people who are running the Dems now.

79 posted on 02/23/2008 6:36:48 AM PST by GVnana ("They're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?" - GWB)
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To: Travis McGee

Only six references for 64 pages of text. It reads like an opinion piece.


80 posted on 02/23/2008 6:39:58 AM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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