Why Netflix’s ‘Becoming’ brought back up so many memories and why four years later, we can't let go

Writer: Raven Harper

Michelle Obama’s documentary Becoming opens with her in the car on the way to a book signing, showing her whimsical, down-to-earth side as she bops her head back and forth to gospel artist, Kirk Franklin’s A God Like You. "I have an eclectic taste of music- it depends on the mood- whether I want to inspire or whether I just want to funk it out,” the former first lady exclaimed. Feeling funky, Kirk Franklin’s upbeat, spiritual tempo with soulful background vocals, plays throughout the first two minutes of the Netflix original documentary as we see nostalgic snippets of the Obama’s during the early years of their time in office. Immediately, the documentary takes me back to a simpler time that filled the hearts of mine and so many others of the black community, and for so much more than just seeing a black family in office for the first time. This documentary and the years the Obamas were in office gives off that same warm, fuzzy feeling as eating thanksgiving dinner at your grandma’s house surrounded by all of your family members. Familiar. That day on Tuesday, November 4 of 2008 when Honolulu native, Barack Obama won the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election against Republican John McCain with 69.5 million votes (the largest tally ever won by a presidential candidate), it was a feeling beyond just something “for the culture”. I felt hope. Seen. On top of the world. Like I had just become the 44th president of the United States. When I saw Michelle and Obama, I saw my mother and father. When I saw Malia and Sasha, I saw my sister and I. When the news came out that Barack Obama was officially the next president to take office, I remember I was eight-years-old, sitting on the floor in the middle of my two-bedroom apartment living room with my mother and sister jumping around, shouting, knowing history had just been made. Looking back on that day, I had no clue the impact Barack, Michelle, and even Malia and Sasha Obama would have on my life and so many others like me, but I knew it would leave one.

For so many non-black people in the world, Barack Obama stepping into office was either a disaster, something new to add to history textbooks, or just another election. But for me, the thought of the Obamas residence for the next eight years being the white house, meant that anything I ever wanted to do was possible. Growing up black, we are taught that it is not ideal for us to take up certain spaces in life. But when Obama came into office, every white person that ever denied us or told us no, was silenced. Was wrong. Because my president, who circles the same ethnicity as me when I apply for jobs, was the leader of our country. Was the one who called the shots. It was so much bigger than a new, first black (fill in the blank). This was hope for every black person all over the world, that our dreams are attainable because the president of the United States was one of us. It was representation. It was such a flex. A flex like the confidence and arrogance, My President by Jeezy portrayed when it was released shortly after Obama won the 2008 election. “My president is black, my lambo is blue, ” the song many played throughout their streets with their window rolled down that year.

What was an even bigger flex was the fact that we had a black family in office who held such poise, professionalism, realness, and genuine care throughout their entire tenure. Black people in power who didn’t make us look bad, or show us in a negative light. I think that was, in fact, the very thing that drove so many people away, that the first black family in office didn’t live up to the racist, ignorant stereotypes they associate with all black people. They were exactly the opposite.

The Netflix documentary, Becoming follows the former (my forever) first lady Michelle Obama on her book tour for Becoming, a book she released two years after she left office describing her life transparently, beginning at the South Side of Chicago, through her time at the big, white house in the nation's capital. In this Netflix film, Michelle takes us with her behind the scenes of her life, as we are able to see her personality, and her hysterical humor as she helps us get a glimpse of what life was really like in her shoes as well as the progress and work efforts she made with the youth.

One of the many parts in the documentary that showed Michelle’s pure essence was in a live audience sit-down conversation with Stephen Colbert, where she explained that even as the first family of the country, she still wanted her family to live a normal and humble life despite the butlers in tuxedos who walked around attending to their every need. “I had to beg the housekeepers - you know, these girls (Malia and Sasha) had to learn how to clean their own room... You cannot do this every day because they will not live here forever and I am not raising kids that do not know how to make their own bed.” Like never in a million years, would I have imagined that the first lady would sound and act like my very own mother. I think this was one of the many things that made so many feel connected to this family. That even with the titles,and all the fancy seats they sat in, they never lost touch with the people they were before all of that. They remained humble and most importantly, remained black.

So for everyone who ever thought that the reason we as a black community can’t let go of the fact the 44th president was because he shared the same skin tone as us, know that the pride goes deeper than the skin. It is so much more. He made us feel empowered. Enough empowerment to last us longer than eight years. Enough to last us a lifetime.