Michelle Obama returned to her hometown of Chicago on Tuesday evening to deliver a stirring and powerful speech of support for Vice President Kamala Harris on the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
Throughout her speech, the former First Lady did not mince her words when it came to Donald Trump and the threat she believes he poses to the country and democracy.
And in perhaps her most outspoken and public comment yet, Obama spoke about the racism she and former President Barack Obama experienced during their eight years in the White House – attacks often continued by Trump, who spent years promoting the “birtherism” conspiracy theory (the American birthplace of the first black president) and questioning his suitability for the presidency.
“For years, Donald Trump has done everything in his power to make people afraid of us,” she said. “His narrow, limited view of the world has led him to feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people – who happen to be black.”
“Wait, I want to know – who is going to tell him that the job he is currently looking for might be one of those ‘black jobs’?” she said.
The allusion to a widely criticized statement made by Trump in June during the presidential debate on CNN drew loud cheers from the thousands of delegates at the party convention.
Michelle Obama later accused Trump of using “the same old scam, using more ugly, misogynistic and racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that would actually improve people’s lives.”
Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator Keith Boykin said the audience could sense Obama’s passion – and at times frustration – during her speech at the United Center.
“I took it as a reflection of the fact that Donald Trump is constantly attacking black people and black women,” Boykin said, referring to Trump’s false claim at the National Association of Black Journalists conference last month that Harris had only recently “turned black by accident.”
“The implication was clear: He’s racist and divisive, and we’re sick of it. He’s like a schoolyard bully who never grew up, and she’s America’s mother telling that kid, ‘Look, this is over and done with.'”
During her speech, Obama spoke about her own mother, Marian Robinson, who died in May, and drew parallels between the lessons she and Harris learned from their mothers’ examples.
Both mothers, Obama said, “shared the same faith in the promise of this country.”
“I wasn’t even sure if I was strong enough to stand before you tonight. But my heart compelled me to be here because I feel it is my duty to honor their memory. And to remind us all not to waste the sacrifices our ancestors made to give us a better future,” she said.
And without directly mentioning Trump’s name, Obama drew pointed comparisons between Harris and the 45th president.
“She understands that most of us will never be given the grace to fail forward. We will never benefit from the positive discrimination of generational wealth,” Obama said. “When we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top.”
As reactions to Obama’s speech poured in on social media, many noted that the former First Lady appeared to have moved away from the high-flown rhetoric she used when she coined the slogan “When they go low, we rise high” at the 2016 DNC.
Instead, eight years later, Obama urged Americans who felt “sadness” and fear about the 2024 presidential election campaign: “Do something.”
Latonya Reeves, a delegate from Minnesota, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins that she was moved by Obama’s speech and cheered so loudly that her voice failed her.
“Our ancestors fought for us to be here. We do not have the option to stand by and not vote,” she said.
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