One of the advantages of being the former first lady is that Michelle Obama no longer has to “bite her tongue.” During the annual Obama Foundation Summit, she said white people were “running” from Blacks and immigrants, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I wanna remind white folks that ya’ll were running from us … this family with all the values you read about, you were running from us, and you’re still running – because we’re no different than the immigrant families that are moving in … the families that are coming from other places to try to do better,” Obama said.
The “Becoming” author made the comments while recounting the “white flight” her family experienced when they moved to Chicago’s South Side. White flight happens when white people move out of neighborhoods as they become increasingly populated by Black people and other people of color.
“As families like ours, upstanding families like ours, who were doing everything we were supposed to do — and better, as we moved in, white folks moved out because they were afraid of what our families represented,” Obama said.
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Joined by her brother, Craig Robinson, Obama candidly remarked that people look at “artificial things” like skin color and hair texture to make judgments about people they don’t even know. She reiterated the long-held notion that Black people have to be ‘twice as good’ to achieve even a modicum of respect from white people.
“Being the first Black first family gave America and the world an opportunity to see the truth of who we are as Black people, as others; that we are just as and often times better than many of the people who doubt us,” Obama added.
It didn’t take long for people to weigh in. While some applauded her candor, many called Obama a hypocrite based on the fact that the neighborhood they now live in is majority white and they recently brought a home in Martha’s Vineyard.
