Obama Gets Cranky About Alpha Kappa Alpha

It’s not a good week for Alpha Kappa Alpha. For starters, the group’s national president, Barbara McKinzie, may be forced out following allegations that, among other “financial misdeeds,” she “used the organization’s money to commission a $900,000 ‘living legacy wax figure’ of herself," as reported in the Washington Business Journal.

And then there was the New York Times Magazine cover story on Valerie Jarrett this weekend, which opened with an anecdote from the campaign trail, in which Jarrett wielded her trusted-advisor power to convince Barack Obama to go to an Alpha Kappa Alpha event—an event he desperately didn’t want to attend. As Robert Draper reports, Obama’s response to the request that he make an appearance at the African-American sorority’s Pink Ice Ball was: “I’ve been to sorority events before ... We’re not gonna change anybody’s mind.’” After which he “snapped”: “I’m not going to any sorority event.” And “barked”: “I told Anton I’m not going to any Pink Ice Ball!”

As I made my way through the piece, I couldn’t get that lede out of my head. Why was Obama so against going to the sorority event, and what did he mean that he wouldn’t change anybody’s mind? Is Alpha Kappa Alpha notoriously conservative, or aggressively pro-Hillary?

Not at all. As my colleague with friends in the sorority put it, “If you can find a Republican at the Pink Ice Ball, I'll clean your bathroom with a toothbrush.” And Megan Taylor, who was an undergrad member of the Theta Zeta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, confirms that the sorority as a whole is very pro-Democrat, and pro-Obama. She says they released Obama T-shirts and signs with their signature green and pink colors to the entire organization (which requires approval at the national level), and inducted Michelle as an honorary member. Like me, Megan couldn’t make sense of that “We’re not gonna change anybody’s mind” line. Does it make sense to anyone else?

Tags: alpha kappa alpha, Barack Obama, new york times

Samantha Henig is the associate editor of Double X, and can be reached at samantha.henig@doublex.com.

Comments

President Obama and Racism issue

By: TierraJ | Thu, 07/30/2009 - 01:22

The aftermath of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. saw some very negative fallout and accusations of racism especially after President Obama commented on the incident. There were repeated requests to hear the Gates 911 Call. The Gates 9/11 call has been released, and there isn't mention of the race in the call. Gates who is a Harvard University Professor was trying to get into his own home after returning from a trip, and the door was jammed. In the process of trying to gain access, police were called thinking it was a burglary. However, the professor was handcuffed by the officer and brought to the Cambridge Police Station. Gates apparently became hostile to officers, and was booked for that reason, charges having later been dropped. No suits have been filed, but no one needs payday loans to get the Gates 911 Call transcripts. The police officer has also another version of the story which seems to be opposing the statement of Gates. Hopefully, they will reconcile and patch things up even the racism issue.

Fear of a Flori Roberts planet

By: profsusan | Tue, 07/28/2009 - 15:37

The image of Obama begging to be spared the Pink Ice Ball rings adorably true (I can almost remember my father saying the same words to no avail), as does the image of Valerie Jarrett going quiet and stern on the man; he didn't stand a chance. My mother has been an Alpha Kappa Alpha member for over 50 years, but she swore off those balls decades ago because she found them interminably dull and couldn't stand the snobbish Talented Tenth brand of noblesse oblige. The Pink Ice Ball took place at a moment in the campaign when many older professional black women were torn between Obama and Clinton. They saw the Clintons as their friends in the White House; they were proud to witness Hillary, a woman of their generation who, like them, had made compromises in her personal and professional life, finally emerge as a politician in her own right; and they were thrilled that she was in the running for top job. On the one hand, as compelling, visionary, and brilliant as they found Barack Obama, these women were less suspicious of his youth and relative inexperience than anxious about his being potentially destroyed by the right-wing strategists' assaults, whether the campaign was worth putting his young family through the suffering (remember AKA soror Alma Powell), and, crucially, whether it was worth putting the black community through the racist ugliness that continues today with the "birther" nonsense and lunatic bloggers' attacks on the Obama daughters. They agonized over whether his loss would negatively affect race relations, black morale, and the strides earlier generations made in the Civil Rights movement, but most of all, they felt protective of him and worried that this young couple who avoided the black fraternity/sorority scene in college would dismiss them and their social traditions as passe and irrelevant. Obama and Valerie Jarrett knew the Pink Ice revelers were almost all Democrats, and after a long day on the trail, no one could blame Obama for dreading an evening of debutante presentations, fox trots, and obligatory electric slides. But Valerie Jarrett knew that the South Carolinian Alphas needed him to pay them some obeisance and prove that he recognized their social status and influence. Besides, if the ladies were expecting him to appear and he failed to show up, they would never forgive his sign of disrespect.

I really hope Ms. Jarrett bought a round afterwards. And that Obama bought a second round because he is damn lucky to have her wisdom and savvy.

They are not going to convince some people he is black

By: domini | Mon, 07/27/2009 - 22:34

He's referring to those in the black community who have and continue to question his blackness and his commitment to black middle class culture. GOing to the Pink Ice Ball would be seen as a "proof". Since I've been to some of this stuff, and it's deadly boring to me, I can understand why he didn't want to go. I can also understand his reaction; if they don't believe he's black because his mother is white, there's nothing he can do to convince them.

Just exhausted?

By: Raechal | Mon, 07/27/2009 - 20:23

I also just pictured him in being in one of those moods you get some time where you just ... can't ... deal ... with anything, because you're so exhausted and mentally drained. But I will say I kinda thought it was strange, too. My AKA friends love Obama.

"we're not gonna change

By: strivergirl | Mon, 07/27/2009 - 16:53

"we're not gonna change anyone's mind" = anyone who cares about obama going to an aka formal was probably voting for him anyway. no votes to be won, no point to going. doesn't seem that complicated to me.