She was a historic first lady, but Michelle Obama says some never saw past ‘my skin color’

‘The shards that cut me the deepest were the ones that intended to cut’

The Lily News
Jul 27, 2017 · 3 min read
Michelle Obama. (Kevin Winter/Getty/Lily illustration)

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

Former first lady Michelle Obama made her largest public appearance since the 2016 election on Tuesday, speaking in front of more than 8,000 people at the Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s 30th anniversary celebration.

The moderator lauded Obama for her achievements over the eight years her family occupied the White House and touched on the former first lady’s plans.

The conversation also veered into uncomfortable territory as they discussed the personal attacks Obama faced again and again. Many had the same theme.

Michelle Obama speaks during a live conversation with The Women’s Foundation of Colorado President and CEO Lauren Y. Casteel in Denver. (Jason Bahr/Getty Images For The Women’s Foundation of Colorado)

“The shards that cut me the deepest were the ones that intended to cut,” Obama said, according to the Denver Post.

“We are living with small tiny cuts, and we are bleeding every single day. And we’re still getting up,” she said.

For nearly a decade, Obama, the nation’s first black first lady, absorbed direct and subtle barbs about her race:

  • She’s been called an “atrocity” as a first lady who’s not classy enough — or at least not as classy as her white predecessors.
  • A Washington state mayor said she has a gorilla face.
  • Fox News said she was former president Barack Obama’s “baby mama,” as opposed to his wife and the mother of his children.
  • She’s been criticized for doing pushups and for wearing shorts.

And the attacks continued even as the Obamas were on their way out. In November, the director of a nonprofit in a small West Virginia Town drew national scorn after calling Obama an “ape in heels.”

As The Washington Post’s Kristine Phillips and Lindsey Bever reported, Pamela Taylor took to Facebook after Donald Trump was elected, sharing her thoughts about the upcoming shift from Obama to Melania Trump as first lady.

“It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady back in the White House,” she wrote. “I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”

After Taylor’s comments went viral, an online petition calling for her to be fired began filling with digital signatures, ultimately logging more than 200,000 of them. Taylor ultimately lost her job.

Despite the detour into dark territory during the conversation on Tuesday, many of Obama’s comments went high.

She told the audience that she is “a strong woman because of other strong women,” according to statement on WFCO’s website.

And she stressed the need to be an uplifting force in girls’ lives — and to shower them with positive messages.

“Tell her every day she is smart and capable and lift her up,” Obama said.

The Lily

The Lily was the first U.S. newspaper for and by women. We’re bringing it back.

The Lily News

Written by

The Lily

The Lily

The Lily was the first U.S. newspaper for and by women. We’re bringing it back.

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