It was her last commencement speech as first lady, and it was fantastic.
Michelle Obama spoke to her alma mater City College of New York on June 3 about the value of diversity, the legacy of racism, and the fear that pervades American culture.
Without actually naming the Republican nominee for president, Obama bemoaned the "fear, "name-calling," and "suspicion" of "some folks" in a thinly veiled indictment of Donald Trump:
Some folks out there today ... seem to view our diversity as a threat to be contained rather than as a resource to be tapped. They tell us to be afraid of those who are different, to be suspicious of those with whom we disagree. They act as if name-calling is an acceptable substitute for thoughtful debate, as if anger and intolerance should be our default state rather than the optimism and openness that have always been the engine of our progress.
...
Here in America, we don’t give in to our fears. We don’t build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere.
The First Lady also spoke frankly about the racialized history embedded in her home.
"It's the [immigrant] story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves," she said. "I watch my daughters — two beautiful young black women — head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya."
Watch the whole speech here.
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