I was driving the other day and listening to Michelle Obama’s race-obsessed commencement address at Tuskegee University founded by civil rights leader, Booker T. Washington, on Sean Hannity’s radio program. By the time I got to my destination, I wanted to grab the closest razor and slit my wrists. When I got home, I read her entire speech and was stunned there were no reports of mass suicide by the graduates at the University over the weekend.
What I heard was a speech that was negative, depressive, and bleak and painted a hopeless future for these young people which gave them no opportunity other than to declare themselves victims of a continuing oppressive and racist society.
In stark contrast, I came across Denzel Washington’s commencement speech at Dillard University this past weekend. It was uplifting and full of optimism. He told the graduates to put God first in everything they do and to thank Him for grace, understanding, wisdom, their parents, love, kindness and humility. He talked about having dreams but also setting life goals, annual goals, monthly goals, and even daily goals. He stressed that goals are met through discipline and consistency and that hard work is what successful people do.
I have no idea what Mrs. Obama’s childhood was like, how she did in college, how she got into law school, how rich or poor her parents were, or what her struggles were, but I’m sure they were not unique to her and certainly not unique to black people. She may, in fact, have had advantages through affirmative action because of her race. I don’t know.
What I do know is my mother died when I was 8. I worked my way through college. My father didn’t pay a dime towards my education. I worked full-time while I went to law school at night for four years. I’ve known people with very similar backgrounds. I’ve known people with dyslexia who had a terrible time in school when dyslexia wasn’t even identified. I’ve known people who were bullied and nicknamed “Bosco” because of the color of their skin. I’ve known others who’ve taken the Bar exam numerous times.
I’m sure many others have had similar struggles but those challenges didn’t make us bitter people. Michelle Obama, however, is one helluva bitter woman. And I haven’t a clue why.
She is the First Lady of the greatest country in the world (although I sincerely believe she doesn’t think it is), and instead of inspiring the graduates and pointing out the great strides this country has made when it comes to race – and I’m not sure why race should even be the topic of a commencement address — she stands there and instills in these young people a “woe is me” attitude and encourages victimhood? Shameful.
Instead of focusing on the graduates, so much of her speech was all about her. She even took the opportunity to complain about cable news and cry-babied about the caricatures of her that were published. Does she remember the caricatures of Barbara Bush? Nancy Reagan? It’s part of the job, Michelle, and had no place at that podium. But she’d rather believe we are still living in an early 20th century America than in 2015.
And as smart as people thinks she is, she clearly doesn’t know much about the founder of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, who said:
“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
The fact her bi-racial husband was elected not once, but twice, by a white-majority America doesn’t seem to matter to her. She’s far more comfortable seeing bigotry around every corner she turns.
Mrs. Obama would rather these young people carry the crutch of racism rather than instilling in them the idea set forth by the founder of their University:
“I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.”
And, then, there’s Denzel Washington, born ten years earlier than Mrs. Obama and probably faced even more challenges in the 50s than she did in the 60s. He lost an audition on Broadway not because he was black, but because he couldn’t sing. His failure was on him. Not on the color of his skin. Unlike Mrs. Obama, he seems to be a very happy person, is comfortable in his skin, and would be no matter what color he was. Never once – not even once – did he mention race in his commencement speech – because race was clearly irrelevant. His words were encouraging and hopeful.
For all that she has accomplished – graduating Princeton University and Harvard Law School – Mrs. Obama is an extremely bitter woman. I’m no psychologist but I’ve read hundreds of psych evals in my work and met just as many dysfunctional people, and, as far as I’m concerned, from what I’ve heard coming out of her mouth over the past six years, she’d be a bitter person no matter what color she was.
I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.
