Sasha & Malia's First Day At School - What Will They Teach Us?

Baratunde Thurston writes about the first day of school for President-elect Obama's two daughters - Sasha and Malia - at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School.

While the first day of school is a common experience most of us can identify with - Sasha and Malia will not only be the new girls, not only the President's daughters, but as young women of color - they will be new faces in an often white prep-school world.

Thurston, a Sidwell alumni, writes about this in a letter to President-elect and Michelle Obama saying:

But what may prove more challenging is the burden Malia and Sasha will face, not as first daughters, but as plain ol’ black girls. They already represent the United States of America, but in a school like Sidwell, even though it may have a greater representation of minorities than in my time, they also will be expected to represent the United States of Black America, as I was.

They’ll be The Black Friend. They’ll suffer through many a white person wanting to touch their hair. (I strongly recommend Sasha and Malia avoid cornrows.) And they will likely be viewed as both exceptions to and spokespeople for their race. This means they should be prepared when fellow students and even teachers turn to them for “expertise” when the curriculum touches on anything black.

So how will the other children react to this splash of diversity at Sidwell? And how can parents help their children avoid treating Sasha and Malia as an anomaly? And how will the elite education of Sasha and Malia fit into a society where in at least 12 states, more than 40 percent of Black children are poor?

No matter how you answer the questions above, it is clear that the presence of the Obama family in Washington DC will change the way that American's perceive women of color.

Michelle Obama has already allowed a new vision of the female intellect and female figure to be embraced; Sasha and Malia will show us what it is like to grow up in America as black females - a narrative that is typically left out of the mainstream media spotlight.

Thus, the first day of school for Sasha and Malia, is also in a way, our first day of school as Americans. We will both be getting a new education as we walk down the halls of this archetypal experience. For many - especially those in white America - this will be the first time to see what it is like to embark on the beautiful, and yet, often fragile journey into adulthood as a young women of color.