Michelle Obama denounced Donald Trump in a clever commencement speech. On Friday, June 3, FLOTUS took the podium at the City College of New York, to salute graduates she described as “living, breathing proof that the American dream endures,” all the while criticizing “name-calling” leaders who engage in “anger and intolerance.”
Although Obama did not mention Trump by name, her intention could not have been clearer, as she cautioned future leaders about “leaders who rule by intimidation — leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people — often do so because they have nothing else to offer.”
“Here in America, we don’t give in to our fears,” Obama told the class of 2016 — a total of 3,848 graduates, on the college’s Manhattan campus, the flagship school in the City University of New York system. “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 but sought out this country and made it their home.”
Touching on Trump’s stand on immigration, Obama went on to mention notable immigrants, and children of immigrants, who attended City College, including Jonas Salk, Ira Gershwin, Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Grove, as well as some personal perspective.
“It’s the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, Black young women — head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: to get an education and improve his prospects in life.”
Of course, it’s no surprise Obama used the opportunity to call out the presumptive Republican nominee for president. After all, just last month, her husband, President Barack Obama, voiced similar sentiments during his poignant commencement speech at Rutgers University. “Let me be as clear as I can be: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” said Obama. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about. And yet we’ve become confused about this.
“Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting they should be treated differently when entering this country — that is not just a betrayal of our values, that’s not just a betrayal of who we are, it would alienate the very communities at home and abroad that are our most important partners in the fight against violent extremism.”
Considering our country was built on the backs of slaves and immigrants — we agree with the president. What are your thoughts on the first lady’s digs at Trump? Sound off in the comment section below.
