Michelle Obama was in her element as she attacked Donald Trump on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday (August 20). The former First Lady criticized Trump for his controversial statement that illegal immigrants were taking “black jobs.”
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s looking for could be one of those black jobs?” Michelle said, referring to Trump’s comments.
Michelle also criticized the Republican party leader for his “narrow-minded” attitude, which led him to feel “threatened” by the success of black people.
“For years, Donald Trump has done everything in his power to make people afraid of us,” Michelle continued. “His narrow, parochial 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.”
Michelle concluded her salvo with a repeat of the popular catchphrase from 2016: “When they go low, we rise high.”
“We have the power to pass on the love, sweat and sacrifice of our mothers and fathers and all those who came here before us. Let us work as if our lives depended on it,” she added.
What did Trump say?
During the first presidential debate against Joe Biden in June, Trump sparked controversy with his statement that immigrants would fill jobs normally occupied by “blacks.”
“They’re now taking jobs away from black people, and it could be 18, 19, even 20 million people,” Trump said.
“His (Biden’s) big black killing is the millions of people he’s allowing to come across the border. They’re taking jobs away from blacks, and they’re taking jobs away from Hispanics, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history,” he added.
While Trump claimed that immigrants were taking the jobs, data showed that the unemployment rate among blacks in the US remains near historic lows. The share of blacks with a job is 59.1 percent, close to last year’s high of 60.4 percent.
Between 2019 and 2023, wages for black workers increased 1.4 percent, adjusted for inflation, compared with 0.9 percent for Hispanics and 0.5 percent for white workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(With contributions from agencies)
)
