Michelle Obama's commensement speech at Tuskegee University.

I took time to listen to this speech.  It was well worded,  more passionate than angry,  a speech that encouraged the black student body to move from its sense of victimization at the hands of a non-black community  (white community ?)  to the heights of their personal qualifications and experience. 

The speech is hard to criticize.  Nothing wrong with reminding a black student body of black American history  (at the hands of a Democrat Party - a fact never alluded to by the First Lady) and encouraging them to move on and upward.  But when this is the primary point of the speech,  injustice at the hands of the oppressor and the demand to rise above that plantation mentality,  it leaves the student audience with the confirmed opinion that it is "us versus them."  And it is in this fact,  that Michelle missed a great opportunity as the First Lady,  to redirect the negatives of the past,  give the student body a sense of pride in this country,  and a desire to make it even better   . . . . . .  none of this was part of the speech. 

I come from an Irish ancestry  . . . . .   lots of negatives,  here in America,  against the Irish.  The Chinese have their stories as does the American Indian,  but all have moved on and away from that very negative history.  Not true within much of the black community.  Listen to a speech by Al Sharpton.  It is ALL about the white/cracker oppressor and the injustices that plague the black community.   It ALWAYS includes the terrorist threat,  "No justice, no peace," a clear threat of domestic violence in the face of perceived injustices. And the fact that Sharpton is a close confidante of the Obama's,  tells you where their heart is   . . . . .   angry and determined to put the cracker oppressor in his place  (Sharpton's words,  not mine). 

In this speech,  we have a successful black woman reminding the audience,  as if it needs to be reminded (!!!!), of the injustice of a fallen world.  It's time to get over the past.  If not,  it will destroy those who are consumed by bitterness.  It is a shame that M Obama decided to camp on the "us versus them" bias.