First Lady Michelle Obama stands before thousands of graduates at CCNY 2016 Ceremony
Michelle Obama delivered a forceful and dogmatic speech at City College Friday in front of more than three thousand graduates in an outdoor ceremony.
The speech was her last commencement speech as first lady of the White House.
As she took to the podium with cheers and standing ovations thundering around her, the first lady lifted her arms in accord before acknowledging the 2016 graduates with praise.
“This is my last chance to share my love, and admiration, and hopefully a little wisdom with the graduating class. I am here because of all of you,” she said.
Michelle reminded the graduates that they represented every faith and walk of life as she spoke about diversity.
“You represent just about every background, every color,” she said. “You made it here today through the same combination of unyielding determination, sacrifice and a whole lotta hard work.”
She spoke about the ideals of the founding fathers and racial harmony, reminding the multicultural alumnae before her that they were recognized by merit and not by pedigree.
“Some folks out there today seem to have a very different perspective,” she said, hinting at Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to build walls to keep out immigrants of color. “They seem to view our diversity as a threat to be contained rather than as a resource to be tapped. They act as if name calling is an acceptable substitute for thoughtful debate.”
Her message became even clearer as she told the graduates, “We don’t build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere but sought out this country and made it their home,”
The first lady went on to address the recent budget cuts that have shaken the faculty and low cost education by stating in her commencement speech that “public education is our greatest pathway to opportunity in America. So we need to invest in and strengthen our public universities today, and for generations to come.”
