Jeez, so what did you want her to say on national TV?

FAIL

well at least now the First Lady knows who to ask for reperations

Gee Scott, maybe she could have expressed disappointment in her ancestor for owning human beings as chattel and presumably using the teenage girls among them as sex toys, and cheating on his wife? JEEZ. Reactionary much?

lmao@ thelady, and SIGH at this whole foolishness. I kinda wish people would get out of her family tree/gene pool/whatever.

Lisa Jisa J:

Sorry, I guess she is just not as enlightened as you are.

***Rolls eyes at all of this*** Now they want to claim somebody.

@thelady.... lmao!

@ Scott u could do with a little enlightening urself

Why didn't they find it necessary to bring up any of the Blacks in the family of all those white first ladies? I couldn't care less about this woman and simple looking son.

,Well, this is America, jack! We will drop shame in a hot minute to say, “Hey! I’m related to an Obama too!” Yeah, yeah the slave girl was only 15 when she gave birth to our common ancestor, but that was like NORMAL back in olden days, right? Right? We don’t know for a FACT Michelle Obama’s ancestors were raped by my ancestors! Can’t we just come visit the White House for Thanksgiving and braid each others hair and share memories and shit?

this is why I have sooooo missed you.

It's absolutely ridiculous. like it's any surprise that, gasp, Michelle Obama has White relatives......most Black folks could do the same.

Just ask folks, plain and simple :

1. look at the populations of the countries in West Africa were most of the American transatlantic slave trade began....LOOK AT THEM.

2. now, look at the ' rainbow' of shades that Black America is.

riddle me this, how the hell did we go from #1 to #2 WITHOUT RACIALLY MIXING.

The Black community in America has ALWAYS been ' multi-racial' - from the first time Massa went down to the slave quarters. it's because of that ' mixing', that 2 Black folk, when they get married and have a baby, don't know what's coming out. they can hope for a child that is healthy and normal, but aside from that, they don't know what will happen...never know when a ' throwback' gene will pop out and grab the kid.

We have always been a ' multi-racial' community, and we are the folks who claim everyone from the former head of the NAACP, the late Walter White, to comedian Bernie Mac, and everyone in between. more than often, we can see that racial rainbow breakdown in our own families.

my mother's family is an example of it. my maternal grandfather would have fit in walking the streets of Scotland - without missing a beat.
my maternal grandmother was Black ' as the Ace of Spades',and was often mistaken for the 'servant girl' when she went out with her own mother-a former slave-, when they walked the streets of the South.

between them, they had children ranging from chocolate to an aunt who could have passed for a red-headed White woman, and everything in between.

same parents.

don't even begin to try and tell Black folks about being ' multi-racial'. we accept it, because we've had to, because it's part of who we are. White folks have been a long time ignoring it, and wanting to deny how WE came to be ' multi-racial'.

Yeah Scott, b/c it takes so much "enlightenment" to say slavery was wrong and to comment about its wrongs especially when it involves your ancestors Also, I don't think someone just jumped out at her and said "you are related to Michelle Obama by your slave owning ancestor, please comment now on live tv" So she would have had some time to give it some thought. Also, generally when I've read accounts of white folks discovering black family members related via slavery or even about slaves their families once owned, more often than not the reaction isn't "gee wilikers lets get together with them." That wasn't John McCain's reaction and though this woman might want to reach out no matter what, somehow I doubt she'd jump on it with such alacrity if it weren't to gain a relationship with a First Lady. Shoot, I've heard of white folks who did reach out to black family members who were virtually disowned by the rest of their white kin. For all I know this lady might have great intentions and with more time she might say the same things about her ancestor that I said but her reaction was an EPIC FAIl.

Also, though I don't come to the comments section as much as I used to, it seems like for almost every post where I read the comments, you are there you take the contrary position on general principle. What is up with that? Do you feel like you have to enlighten us with your Eurocentric POV (no matter what your skin color or nation of origin is) ? If so, just so you know, we all get that at 90% of the places we go on the interwebs, the media in general and in our education so you aren't giving us a pov we don't already know exists. Just for your "enlightenment".

Do you guys even think things out analytically before you say or post them. This is why it is important to not be anti-intellectual. You wind up being so dumb that you will believe anything whites tell you.

African Americans are not mixed.

Its funny because reading these posts one would think that African Americans are either dumb or insane or both.

You guys whine day and night that whites are racist, yet here you are swallowing everything they tell you.

You guys cry like children about whites being racist, yet here you are claiming that these same racists are your daddies and granddaddies.

Just plain dumb.

Lisa J:

So her real failure was that she didn't break down into a blubbering mass of white liberal guilt and denounce her evil ancestors? The purpose of the interview was to discuss the revelation of her connection to Mrs. Obama. Also, I don't take the positions I do just to be contrary.

Why does it have it have to be "liberal" guilt Scott? You are such a know it all type and I have noticed that but you seem to always be unknowledgeable on the issues concerning black folks. Please do me a favor and shut your mouth, this does not involve you.

Scott, perhaps I was too harsh to you. I believe that while your opinion should be welcomed, it certainly does not have as much weight as a person who has actually experienced the racism so hotly discussed on this site sometimes.

Not an Idiot,

Are you serious? Are you being facetious? Of course African Americans are mixed! If you're white, I'm not surprised of your ignorance but if you're black that's UNBELIEVABLE ignorance!

Rikyrah, Haha! Great post. It kills me how people don't seem to realize that Black Americans are mixed and yet they recognize that we don't look like pure Africans. Although there's a 'rainbow of shades' among West Africans too; let alone the rest of the continent. They just wont be AS light as Lisa Bonet. LOL!

Miss Nigeria O7
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Miss_Nigeria_07_Munachi_Abii.jpg

Igbo women
http://media.photobucket.com/image/igbo%20people/Feels_Good_2B_Home/igbowedding.jpg

Annabele:

Did you read what Lisa J wrote? She seems to want Ms. Shields to apologize for her ancestors and their actions. I don't see why that is necessary.

This is just another shameless example of white people...the media , and/or whoever else is responsible for putting such garbage out there...watering down history to make it seem more palatable and much less violent and atrocious than it actually was. Let them tell it, black women..or rather black little GIRLS...threw themselves at white men, were flattered by the attention, and willingly gave birth to their slave masters' children. The way history is blatantly being rewritten right before our very eyes really DISGUSTS me. People, we must teach our children the REALITIES of what slavery really was and what happened during that time...because it's obvious that others will not...and those who do not know their history are bound to repeat it.

Trust, Jews will not allow the world to forget the horrors of the holocaust..and you'll never hear of any nazi claiming kinship to their prominent jewish cousins and expect said Jew to welcome their nazi cousins with open arms. "Let me show you some pics of my great grandfather guarding the concentration camp where your grandparents were tortured and murdered" GTHOH! They are just SHAMELESS!

Let enough time pass, as we continue to allow history to be watered down..soon enough we'll be back to Cowboys and Indians movies mentality...think back to what an affront those movies were to Indians after being subject to genocide at the hands of white men...smh. where's our outrage??

sorry...not to add insult to injury...I need to replace the word Indian, with Native Americans...

I am really surprised that there are people on this site who think this woman's response was OK...it's not a matter of "liberal white guilt", it's a matter of having a NORMAL HUMAN response to finding out that your ancestor was not only a slave owner, but a rapist to boot (and if great-granddaddy owned this teenage girl, he was a priori a rapist, as she is incapable of consent in that situation).

I'm white, and if I discovered something like that in my bloodline, I'd be horrified, not because of "white liberal guilt" but because it's freaking natural to be ashamed of something that disgusting in your family.

It's psychology, not ideology, IMO.

rikyrah and liz,

1. So called "west" Africans do not look the same.

2. Slaves did not come from only so called "west" Africa. They came from all over Africa. Some came from Asia as well.

3. Name me the countries that make up so called "west" Africa. You can't because "west" is a made up construct to use as a ruse to keep African Ameicans out of "north" Africa.

Answer this question what 3 African nations are the closest to the United States? And do you consider them to be "west" African or not? And do you believe that slaves came from individuals who resided in those 3 countries?

Its scary that you have African Americans that for some reason will listen to whatever lies whites decide to tell them.

Not an idiot,

now that some Black folks are getting the genetic testing done, which tells them which countries their ancestors are from, there is a consistent group of countries that keep on coming up, and none of them happen to be the MALE countries of Northern Africa [Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt].

since you believe I'm wrong, please tell me where the slaves for the Transatlantic Trade originated.