Michelle Obama Plays Race Card Again: Blacks have been ‘frustrated and invisible’ for ‘decades’
First Lady Michelle Obama urged students at Tuskegee University, a historically black university in Alabama, to remain involved in civic life during a time of tension regarding race relations across the country.
At the school’s commencement address, the First Lady listed scenarios in which African-Americans feel they encounter systemic discrimination, such as “nagging worries that you’re going to get stopped or pulled over for absolutely no reason.” She said those feelings are “real,” but disengaging is not an option.
“I want to be very clear that those feelings are not an excuse to just throw up our hands and give up. Not an excuse. They are not an excuse to lose hope. To succumb to feelings of despair and anger only means that in the end, we lose,” Obama said.
The comments come a week after violent riots brought Baltimore to a halt following the arrest and death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a black man who died as a result of injuries sustained during his apprehension. Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has charged all six Baltimore Police Department officers involved in Gray’s arrest for offenses including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
The Gray incident was the latest of a number of high-profile cases of black men getting killed by police, though in most cases law enforcement officials have been cleared of wrongdoing. Tensions have run high since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Mo. Wilson was cleared by a grand jury.
Obama noted that events like those in Baltimore and Ferguson have generated feelings of futility amongst black men and women who believe the institutions of civil society aren’t designed to protect or represent them.
“They’re rooted in decades of structural challenges that have made too many folks feel frustrated and invisible. And those feelings are playing out in communities like Baltimore and Ferguson and so many others across this country,” she said.
Obama pressed the students to vote to ensure those institutional systems work more equitably.
“The first thing we have to do is vote. Hey, no, not just once in a while. Not just when my husband or somebody you like is on the ballot. But in every election at every level, all of the time,” Obama said. “Because here is the truth — if you want to have a say in your community, if you truly want the power to control your own destiny, then you’ve got to be involved.”
Jews, throw off the black yoke. Your money and votes put this vile couple in the White House. Are you happy? I’m not and I’m made at you. As long as you are engaged in negrophelia, I will remain divorced from communal affairs.