United State of America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama, made an emphatic show of embracing her African roots in a speech on Wednesday when she told a group of young Africans that the “blood of Africa” runs through her veins while urging a change in traditional beliefs hampering the education of women.
Michelle Obama
While many critics believe President Barack Obama shied away from discussing his African heritage in his own remarks to the 500 Africans finishing a six-week Washington leadership fellowship two days before as he referred to his Kenyan father only once in the question-and-answer session, Michelle Obama described her discussion with the African youth as an African American woman as “deeply personal.”
“The roots of my family tree are in Africa,” she told the cheering crowd.
“My husband’s father was born and raised in Kenya. Members of our extended family still live there. I have had the pleasure of traveling to Africa many times over the years, including four trips as first lady, and I have brought my mother and my daughters along whenever I can.”
“The blood of Africa runs through my veins, and I care deeply,” she said, addressing while referring to her listeners as “brothers” and “sisters.”
The White House is making women’s empowerment a theme in a Washington African leaders’ summit next week. Michelle Obama said problems with girls’ education often stemmed from traditional “attitudes and beliefs” that exist even in the United States and lead to issues such as the gender pay gap and an underrepresentation of women in leadership.
She said men worldwide need to “look into their hearts and souls and ask if they truly view women as their equals.”
“I am who I am today because of the people in my family, particularly the men in my family, who valued me and invested in me from the day I was born,” the first lady added.
“And as I grew up, the men who raised me set a high bar for the type of men I’d allow into my life – which is why I went on to marry a man who had the good sense to fall in love with a woman who was his equal, to treat me as such – a man who supports and reveres me, and who supports and reveres our daughters as well,” she concluded.
