-By Warner Todd Huston
Encouraging African women to buck tradition and get an education, First Lady Michelle Obama informed them that the “blood of Africa” runs through her veins.
Addressing the participants at this year’s Presidential Summit of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in Washington, the First Lady said that the “roots” of her “family tree are in Africa.”
“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,” she told those gathered.
Calling her audience her “brothers and sisters,” Obama went on to say, “The blood of Africa runs through my veins, and I care deeply.”
The First Lady went on to challenge traditional African attitudes that often place women in the role of second-class citizen.
Michelle said that as she grew up she had strong men in her family who “encouraged me and challenged me, protected me, and told me that I was smart and strong and beautiful” and those men “set a high bar” for the sort of men she would let into her life as she grew older.
Her upbringing, Obama said, 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 and to treat me as such; a man who supports and reveres me, and who supports and reveres our daughters, as well.”
Shockingly, the President did not make any mention of his African heritage in his address at the summit. That was sarcasm, there.
The program features 500 participants culled from the 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa who will work to “gain the skills and connections they need to accelerate their own career trajectories and contribute more robustly to strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa.”
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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