Maya Soetero-Ng: Meeting the Future First Sister

Maya Soetero-Ng, Barack Obama's sister, made an appearance Wednesday night at a San Francisco Obama fundraiser.  MOMocrat Stefania and I, along with various family members, were on hand to listen to Maya give a short talk about her brother, and then had a chance to meet her.  We tried hard to recruit her as a MOMocrat.  She accepted our MOMocrats pin, which I think means we're now going steady.

Maya exudes charm, warmth and poise.  When she walked in and started mingling with the crowd, I spotted her from across the room, and noticed how much she looked like her brother, with deep soulful eyes and broad smile.  While you wouldn't mistake them for twins exactly, they shared some common facial expressions and you can tell they are family.

Maya and Barack share the same mother, but not the same father.  Maya's father was Indonesian, and she is considerably younger than her brother.  She started her remarks by saying that when she learned that she would be speaking in front of a group comprised of LGBTs for Obama, Asian-Pacific Islanders for Obama, Latinos for Obama, and South Asians for Obama, she realized that should could not possibly cover all the issues important to these groups.  She decided that instead, we could read his website, read his books, to find out his stance on issues important to our communities.  What she hoped to do was to give us some insight on who he was as a person, to give us the "measure of the man" from her vantage point as his sister.

On policy issues, she mentioned that Barack is a strong supporter of gay rights.  She congratulated everyone for the news of the California Supreme Court's decision to permit gay marriage, and said that her brother would work to end discrimination against gays in the workforce and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military.

She said that Barack has been surrounded by strong women for his entire life, from his mother, grandmother and sister, to his wife, mother-in-law and daughters.  She said, "He is a feminist.  How could he not be in this crowd?"

She said that their fathers were both gone and he was the man of the house from an early age, and her greatest influence.  Maya admired her brother as a young girl and visited him in New York, where he introduced her to salsa dancing.  She said the first time she experienced it, she said, "Oh yeah, this is for me!" 

When he moved to Chicago, he took her to the South Side, and introduced her to the people in the neighborhood where he worked as a tenant organizer.  It was a rough place for a young girl, but he showed her how wonderful the people were.  He introduced her to poetry and philosophy, suggested books for her to read, and sized up her boyfriends, telling her which ones to dump.  Ultimately, he approved of her Chinese-Canadian husband ("I wanted to mix things up!" she exclaimed about her husband).  What he gave to her, she remarked, was introducing her to "the rich tapestry of possibility."

Maya's speech was heart-felt and painted a loving, admiring portrait of her big brother, her daughter's "Uncle Rocky" and her mentor.  Her love and belief in him was evident in every word and gesture.  She spoke very much from her heart, and seemed unrehearsed and unpretentious. 

Maya said that people often remark at how much a toll it must take on someone to run for President, how much of themselves they have to give from day to day just to keep going.  "Yes," she said, "my brother gives a lot, but he gets, too.  He gets to meet people all across the country.  He gets your warmth, your ideas, your work, and your commitment.  He gives, but he gets much in return.  He gets so much of all of you."

She went on to say that the greatest gift she had gotten was being part of this campaign, going all over the country, meeting people, working with people, and seeing the goodness and common decency that we share as Americans.  She said that what she really wanted to do was mingle with the crowd, meet people, and give people hugs, "I'm a hugger.  You knew that, didn't you?"

She proceeded to do just that.  She milled around the crowd, posed for pictures, and hugged just about anyone within reach, including two MOMocrats and one GRANDMOMocrat.

We worked our way up to the front of the crowd and waited our turn to meet Maya.  She greeted us each with a hug and a kiss, and spoke with Stefania's mom, Joanne first. Stefania told her we were from MOMocrats, and she smiled and said she loved the name.  Stefania gave her one of our buttons, and she pinned it on immediately.  I told her that we would love to have her write for us, and invited her to contribute any time.  She smiled, and took Stefania's card.  Who knows? Maybe you'll hear from First Sister Maya Soetero-Ng here at MOMocrats sometime.

After all, she was just like one of the family.

When not handing out MOMocrats swag to politicians and their family members, Glennia blogs at The Silent I and Kimchi Mamas.

Comments

[Julie Pippert]

She sounds so amazing and I agree that she makes an excellent spokeswoman for Barack Obama, the person. And apropos of nothing of any significance, but she's gorgeous too.

Obama can dance salsa?

Oh I knew I was backing the right guy.

Wait I meant because of the ISSUES she mentioned. :)

[Lawyer Mama]

OK, LOVE that she's a hugger. LOVE that he can salsa.

[cynematic]

All right, if next I learn that the First Extended Family loves to karaoke, that's it. I'll be over the moon.

Looking forward to all those adorable multi-culti kids rolling themselves down the White House lawn. Dammit, I'm picking out drapes--I don't care what anyone says!

[Scheherazade Khan]

This is what I love about America, imagine such a warm, embracing, truly representative family living in the White House...cool

[debbie]

stop it, you guys, i'm srsly about to start sobbing.

[JCK]

Now this would have been a great event to be a part of! I hope Maya gets out there to talk about Barack more!

[Daisy]

I'm impressed that she didn't speak in a patronizing manner at all. She realized she couldn't possibly cover every issue important the audience, so she touched on a few and moved on beyond the basic stump speech. There's an intelligent speaker!