This Monday (Jan. 20), President-elect Donald Trump will celebrate the inauguration of his second (and presumably last, if he doesn’t nuke the Constitution) presidential term. Thereafter will be the a parade celebrating Trump’s win, during which Mississippi Valley State University (*sigh*) will march.
It is customary for former presidents and former first ladies to attend the swearing in ceremony for incoming presidents. The Bushes will be there. The Clintons will be there. Barack Obama will be there. But Michelle Obama must be changing the oil in her car that day, because she’s not going.
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“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies,” her office said in a statement on Tuesday. “Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration.”
Now, before you think Michelle is being a petty princess, there is precedent for her to not attend. Donald and Melania Trump didn’t attend the swearing in ceremony of Joe Biden in 2021. So, since they were the first to break presidential decorum, it is only right that she follows their example and skip the President-Elect’s special day.
But, let the anonymous source tell it, Mrs. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is not entering 2025 on her fake shit. “She’s never been fake and she’s never been phony,” the source told Page Six. “She’s always been very deliberate about where and how she shows up.”
And she’s not the only one: When JD Vance, his wife Usha and their children walk into the Naval Observatory white Queen Anne-style mansion that has been the home of Vice Presidents since the 1970s, it will be the first time they step foot across the threshold of the residence.
Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris declined to invite Vance for a tour of the house, something that has become something of a norm in recent years. Now, Harris hasn’t provided a formal reason for declining to tour the Vances, but neither she nor Michelle are even trying to rock their poker faces: They can’t stand this incoming administration, and they don’t give a damn who knows it.
In contrast, Barack is still playing the game. He is attending the inauguration, and he apparently had no problem laughing it up with Trump at the Jimmy Carter funeral. He is doing what he thinks he should do as a former President of the United States.
These Black women aren’t having any of that.
They are following the example of women like Rosa Parks who, when asked to give up her seat on a Montgomery Bus on 1955, said (at least in my imagination) “Nah.” They are in the tradition of the great Fannie Lou Hammer who once defiantly said, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Or Ruby Bridges who at the tender age of 6, said (again, in my imagination), “y’all gone let me up in this here school.”
We should not be surprised by the open disdain that Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris are showing Trump. They are following in the tradition of unapologetically defiant Black women that goes back decades. They are not willing to play by the rules. They do not care if white folks look at them crazy. They could care less if the media shames them.
They are making a clear statement without saying a single word.
Straight From 
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