During an interview for CBS, former First Lady Michelle Obama laid out some of the realities that Black Americans face on a daily basis.
Throughout recent months stretching into last year, Republicans have sought to depict the Black Lives Matter movement and its affiliates as some kind of existential threat to the United States, which is, of course, ridiculous. For starters, “Black Lives Matter” is as much an idea as an organized movement (although it has plenty of organizational components), and in addition, pretending as Republicans have done that Black Lives Matter is some kind of pro-violence creed is a craven lie based in nothing but racist fearmongering.
Michelle Obama to CBS: "All those Black Lives Matters kids, they'd rather not have to worry about this. They're takin' to the streets because they have to. They're tryin' to have people understand that we're real folks. And the fear that many have of so many of us is irrational."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 8, 2021
On CBS, discussing her own experience with two daughters, Michelle shared the “worry” that she has faced surrounding her children venturing into the world. As she put it:
‘Every time they get in a car by themselves, I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them. The fact that they are good students and polite girls. But maybe they’re playing their music a little loud. Maybe somebody sees the back of their head and makes an assumption.’
Recently, after the guilty verdict in the trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin over his murder of a Black man named George Floyd, the former First Lady and former President Barack Obama released a statement outlining how there’s more work to be done, writing that the country needs “to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice system.”
On CBS, Michelle added as follows:
‘I think we have to talk about it more, and we have to ask our fellow citizens to listen a bit more, and to believe us, and to know that we don’t want to be out there marching. I mean, all those Black Lives Matters kids, they’d rather not have to worry about this. They’re taking to the streets because they have to. They’re trying to have people understand that we’re real folks, and the fear that many have of so many of us is irrational. And it’s based on a history that is just, it’s sad and it’s dark. And it’s time for us to move beyond that.’
Watch her comments below:
WATCH: Former First Lady @MichelleObama tells @GayleKing why she and former POTUS @BarackObama felt it was important to speak out after the jury found Derek Chauvin guilty for the murder of George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/NApyPDqiRs
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 7, 2021
