Michelle Obama criticizes black youth for worship of Rappers & Sport Stars

[mson]

He made the right decision.

Getting your brains bashed into mush for a worthless Com Arts degree or eat off of YouTube views? (Dude was over 50k last time I checked)

Athletes wish they were rappers, anyway.

Why are you bashing com arts?

 

[humble Hermit]

LOL I honestly don't see why people is up in arms for this. WTF did she said that's so wrong?
I read over what she said 100x and tried to play devil's advocate and I couldn't come up with nothing.....Nothing! Regardless of how you feel about the Obama's, Michelle said nothing wrong. I'm pretty sure her whole lecture didn't focus on what we need to do. The moment somebody tries to tell us about us, we're all

Then wonder why our community is the way it is. You may say that "why they gotta tap for the white folks, This white dude did this and I aint hear the 'say Nadda"

There's been time Obama has stepped out his PC lane ( The professor from Boston and Travon Martin) and he has done countless amount of things to help out, but he's not the president of African America. They're other minorities and background that he has to attend to. It's better Michelle say it than a Rush Limbaugh, someone who grew up poor and family went through the struggle. Some Black People don't want to take accountability, we're sometimes hypocrites and words like what Michelle said hurts cause its so close to home.Tell yourself, family and friends to stop trying to live Demonic lifestyles.

 

[jwinfield]

Michelle Obama's Bowie State University commencement address (TRANSCRIPT, VIDEO)

Relevant parts

I also want to recognize today’s Presidential Medal of Excellence recipient, Professor Freeman Hrabowski, who’s a for-real brother as well. And I want to thank him for his tremendous work as the Chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He has done some magnificent work, but we have so much more work to do.

Now, just think about this for a moment: For generations, in many parts of this country, it was illegal for black people to get an education. Slaves caught reading or writing could be beaten to within an inch of their lives. Anyone — black or white — who dared to teach them could be fined or thrown into jail. And yet, just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, this school was founded not just to educate African Americans, but to teach them how to educate others. It was in many ways an act of defiance, an eloquent rebuttal to the idea that black people couldn’t or shouldn’t be educated. And since then, generations of students from all backgrounds have come to this school to be challenged, inspired and empowered. And they have gone on to become leaders here in Maryland and across this country, running businesses, educating young people, leading the high-tech industries that will power our economy for decades to come.

That is the story of Bowie State University, the commitment to educating our next generation and building ladders of opportunity for anyone willing to work for it. All of you are now part of that story. And with that tremendous privilege comes an important set of responsibilities — responsibilities that you inherit the moment you leave this stadium with that diploma in your hand.

And that’s what I want to talk with you about today. I want to talk about the obligations that come with a Bowie State education, and how you can fulfill those obligations by how you live your lives.

You see, for these folks, education was about more than just learning to read or write. As the abolitionist Fredrick Douglas put it, “Education means emancipation,” he said. He said, “It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the only light by which men can be free.” You hear that? The only light by which men can be free.

So to the folks who showed up to your school on that January day back in 1865, education meant nothing less than freedom. It meant economic independence, a chance to provide for their families. It meant political empowerment, the chance to read the newspaper and articulate an informed opinion, and take their rightful place as full citizens of this nation.

So back then, people were hungry to learn. Do you hear me? Hungry to get what they needed to succeed in this country. And that hunger did not fade over time. If anything, it only grew stronger. I mean, think about the century-long battle that so many folks waged to end the evil of segregation. Think about civil rights icons like Thurgood Marshall, Dr. King, who argued groundbreaking school integration cases, led historic marches, protests, and boycotts. As you know, Dr. King’s house was bombed. A police chief pulled a gun on Thurgood Marshall. They both received piles of hate mail and countless death threats, but they kept on fighting.

See, that is the sacrifice that those folks and so many others have made. That is the hunger they felt. For them and so many others, getting an education was literally a matter of life or death.

But today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of “separate but equal,” when it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. Today, instead of walking miles every day to school, they’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper. Right now, one in three African American students are dropping out of high school. Only one in five African Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 has gotten a college degree — one in five.

But let’s be very clear. Today, getting an education is as important if not more important than it was back when this university was founded. Just look at the statistics. People who earn a bachelor’s degree or higher make nearly three times more money than high school dropouts, and they’re far less likely to be unemployed. A recent study even found that African American women with a college degree live an average of six and a half years longer than those without. And for men, it’s nearly 10 years longer. So yes, people who are more educated actually live longer.

So I think we can agree, and we need to start feeling that hunger again, you know what I mean? We need to once again fight to educate ourselves and our children like our lives depend on it, because they do.

We need to dig deep and find the same kind of grit and determination that drove those first students at this school and generations of students who came after them. I am talking about the kind of grit and determination displayed by folks right here at Bowie State.

It is that kind of unwavering determination — that relentless focus on getting an education in the face of obstacles — that’s what we need to reclaim, as a community and as a nation. That was the idea at the very heart of the founding of this school.

It’s even in the words of your school song: “Oh Bowie State, dear Bowie State, may you forever be the flame of faith, the torch of truth to guide the steps of youth.” And that’s not just a lyric — it is a call to action. Many of you will answer that call by carrying on the proud Bowie State tradition of serving as teachers, devoting your careers to guiding the steps of the next generation.

But for those of you who aren’t going into education, you’re not off the hook. Oh, no. Oh, no. No matter what career you pursue, every single one of you has a role to play as educators for our young people. So if you have friends or cousins or siblings who are not taking their education seriously, shake them up. Go talk some sense into them. Get them back on track.

If the school in your neighborhood isn’t any good, don’t just accept it. Get in there, fix it. Talk to the parents. Talk to the teachers. Get business and community leaders involved as well, because we all have a stake in building schools worthy of our children’s promise.

And when it comes to your own kids, if you don’t like what they’re watching on TV, turn it off. If you don’t like the video games they’re playing, take them away. Take a stand against the media that elevates today’s celebrity gossip instead of the serious issues of our time. Take a stand against the culture that glorifies instant gratification instead of hard work and lasting success.

And as my husband has said often, please stand up and reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. Reject that.

In short, be an example of excellence for the next generation and do everything you can to help them understand the power and purpose of a good education. See, that’s what my own parents did for me and my brother.

See, my parents didn’t go to college, but they were determined to give us that opportunity. My dad was a pump operator at the city water plant, diagnosed with MS in his early thirties. And every morning I watched him struggle to get out of bed and inch his way to his walker, and painstakingly button his uniform, but never once did I hear him complain. Not once. He just kept getting up, day after day, year after year, to do whatever he could to give our family a better shot at life.

So when it came time for my brother and I to go to college, most of our tuition came from student loans and grants. But my dad still had to pay a small portion of that tuition each semester, and he was always determined to pay his share right on time — even taking out loans when he fell short, because he couldn’t bear the thought of us missing a registration deadline because his check was late.

And there is not a day that goes by when I don’t think about the sacrifices that my mom and dad made for me. There is not a day that goes by when I don’t think about living up to the example they set, and how I must do everything in my power to make them proud of the daughter they raised.

And today, I am thinking about all the mothers and fathers just like my parents, all the folks who dug into their pockets for that last dime, the folks who built those schools brick by brick, who faced down angry mobs just to reach those schoolhouse doors. I am thinking about all the folks who worked that extra shift and took that extra job, and toiled and bled and prayed so that we could have something better.

The folks who, as the poet Alice Walker once wrote, “Knew what we must know without knowing a page of it themselves.” Their sacrifice is your legacy. Do you hear me? And now it is up to all of you to carry that legacy forward, to be that flame of fate, that torch of truth to guide our young people toward a better future for themselves and for this country.

And if you do that, and I know that you will, if you uphold that obligation, then I am confident we will build an even better future for the next generation of graduates from this fine school and for all of the children in this country because our lives depend on it.

And before people post gifs talking about how they didn't read, Michelle wasn't telling people that just graduated that they should go to school.

She discussed the importance of education in the black community, the growth it leads to and that those that have achieved these goals should come back and make sure that those that aren't lucky, for whatever reason, are able to reach similar goals.

She spoke about Black America's fight for education, the beauty of education, the promise it brings and the responsibility it brings. She spoke about the pitfalls of not being educated and how it's important that we continue to have that hunger to fix these problems.

 

[Born2BKing]

Michelle Obama's Bowie State University commencement address (TRANSCRIPT, VIDEO)

Relevant parts













And before people post gifs talking about how they didn't read, Michelle wasn't telling people that just graduated that they should go to school.

She discussed the importance of education in the black community, the growth it leads to and that those that have achieved these goals should come back and make sure that those that aren't lucky, for whatever reason, are able to reach similar goals.

@Ronnie Lott what you think about this?

 

[El Bombi]

Michelle Obama tell black kids to stop idolizing rapper and ballers.

Nancy Reagan tell black kids to say no to drugs.

 

[Taadow]

From what I read in that transcript,

she criticized youth for "fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper", not "worship of rappers & sport stars" or "idolizing" them...that's not the same.

 

[Ain't That Something]

???

How many times has Obama directly addressed white resentment culture in America? How many times has he actually called out the people who actually voted against him for their cultural and societal ills?

Has Obama even uttered the phrase "Stop & Frisk" once?

Like I said, I actually agree with her statement...on it's most basic level. It's not like she gave some amazing insight, we've been hearing "get off the couch" for decades. The problem is that they aren't saying this stuff because they think it's going to actually help, or that they think the message is new or that it's going to resonate with people. They talk this talk because they are trying to appeal to white sensibilities. "Oh yeah, even the Obama's agree, ******s are laaaaaaazy". They are throwing us under the bus so that Obama can continue his ever-failing quest of trying to be viewed as "bipartisan". I voted for the guy twice, but I'm sick of hearing him adding to this narrative to build his own fukking (terrible) "legacy".

This dude won't even have a luncheon with the Congressional Black Caucus. So fukk him and Michelle if they think they are just gonna put us on blast to appeal to Billy-Bob and Beccy.

You want to know what an actual progressive politician might think about race in America right now? They might think that we need to legislate against supreme court cases like Terry v. Ohio and Whren v. US. They might think that we need another fukking civil rights bill. They might actually open their fukking mouth on the upcoming supreme court cases that may end Affirmative action. Obama is giving us "bootstrap" bullshyt.

Lastly....c'mon breh! The least you can do is rehost and actually post the image. You gave me a third part lank, that shyt is bad etiquette my man....



Not the point, at all. It's not about some quantitative comparison. What are you saying? "Some blacks are criminals, so I can and do throw all of them under the bus whenever I please while simultaneously relying on them as my most passionate voting block and it's cool"? Or are you saying that these things are cool as long as your group has better stats?

If you take what they are saying at face value. Sure, cool, thanks Michelle, I'll tell my children to lay off the CoD a bit and I'm sure that will change everything. Look deeper and you might actually be able to spot how foul this is.



One minute president Obama is "not the president of Black America, but the president of America" and the next he feels entitled to shyt on the entire community to score some political points with resentful cacs who have never been able to look themselves in the mirror and see their own faults.



This is slightly besides the point (And to be fair, I acknowledge that I was the one that brought it up)....but I think that the "these kids and their danfangled ipods" shyt is bogus. You yourself admitted that this stuff can "limit" a childs time in a bad environment (I never said it was going to stop it).

My complaint was more to do with the narrative aspect. This message didn't have fukk all to do with the black community. We have generational poverty, a culture that doesn't have enough respect for academia, and we still (as always) live in a western country that would rather be rid of us then attempt to actually bring us into the fold.

Also, the old bytch nagging shyt is just as tired, racial aspect of not :

The recent Time Magazine cover really irked me. Yes, the youth of this country is just sooo narcissistic. The problems in America almost exclusively stem from the Baby Boomers....particularly the white ones. They are the people holding this nation back. They have squeezed out the middle class and have created a culture where people think 15 bucks an hour is some sort of god-send. Obama has consistently tried to tap into this old-fashioned "the media is the devil" shyt and I'm tired of it. Black inner city youth have issues beyond Keeping Up With The Kardashians and CoD.

TLDR : The Obama's are full of shyt, as usual. Don't be duped by this narrative driven horseshyt brehs.

This nikka done body everyone in this thread. Glad I ain't made no dumb comments.

 

[Born2BKing]

Michelle Obama tell black kids to stop idolizing rapper and ballers.

Nancy Reagan tell black kids to say no to drugs.

 

[El Bombi]

Shouldn't you be getting ready to got to you mentor church in the morning.

 

[El Bombi]

So, I guess it's ok for Michelle to fantasize to be Beyonce, who is basically a over glamorized Showgirl. Singing and dancing while dressing provocative.

 

[Born2BKing]

Shouldn't you be getting ready to got to you mentor church in the morning.

 

[El Bombi]

I'm white now because I disagree with Michelle Obama.

So, only white people disagree with Obama?

go get ready for your homo Sunday school class in Atlanta with Eddie Long.


I guess you are from Atlanta. You defending Michelle Obama is no different in how people in Atlanta are defending their homo pimp preachers in Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar.

 

[Born2BKing]

I'm white now because I disagree with Michelle Obama.

So, only white people disagree with Obama?

go get ready for your homo Sunday school class in Atlanta with Eddie Long.


I guess you are from Atlanta. You defending Michelle Obama is no different in how people in Atlanta are defending their homo pimp preachers in Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar.

 

[Dead End]

I guess kids should instead be fantasizing about being responsible for the death of kids in other lands, huh?

 

[El Bombi]