Back when my husband first started campaigning for President, folks had all sorts of questions of me:
当我的丈夫开始竞选总统时,人们对我有各种各样的质疑:
What kind of First Lady would I be? What kinds of issues would I take on?
她会是什么样的第一夫人?她会接受什么样的挑战?
Would I be more like Laura Bush, or Hillary Clinton, or Nancy Reagan?
她会更像劳拉·布什、希拉里·克林顿,还是南希·里根?
And the truth is, those same questions would have been posed to any candidate's spouse.
事实是,任何候选人的配偶都会面临这些问题。
That's just the way the process works.
这就是整个程序运作的方式。
But, as potentially the first African American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations;
但是,作为美国历史上首位非裔第一夫人,我同时是另一组问题和猜测的焦点,
conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others.
这些对话有时植根于对他人的恐惧和误解。
Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating?
她会不会太聒噪,太愤怒,或者太软弱?
Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?
或者,她会不会太温柔,太像一位母亲,而不够像一名职业女性?
Then there was the first time I was on a magazine cover -- it was a cartoon drawing of me with a huge afro and machine gun.
接着,我以卡通形象的方式第一次出现在杂志封面上,顶着爆炸头,站在一挺巨大的机枪旁边。
Now, yeah, it was satire, but if I'm really being honest, it knocked me back a bit.
现在看来,这的确很讽刺,但坦白来说,它确实让我很惊讶。
It made me wonder, just how are people seeing me.
这件事让我深思公众是如何看待我的。
Or you might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that was referred to as a "terrorist fist jab."
或许你还记得,我和我丈夫在台上击拳庆祝初选的胜利,那一幕被称为“恐怖分子的击拳致意”。
And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me.
多年来,人们用很多有趣的词来形容我。
One said I exhibited "a little bit of uppity-ism."
有人说我表现得有点“不知天高地厚”。
Another noted that I was one of my husband's "cronies of color."
也有人说我是我丈夫这样的黑人的亲信。
Cable news once charmingly referred to me as "Obama's Baby Mama."
有一次,有线新闻竟称我为“奥巴马的代孕妈妈”。
And of course, Barack has endured his fair share of insults and slights.
当然,我丈夫巴拉克也在忍受别人对他的侮辱和蔑视。
Even today, there are still folks questioning his citizenship.
即使在今天,仍然有人质疑他的公民资格。