First Lady Michelle Obama released a statement that said that the federal government only has so much power to stop racism and that students should monitor their relatives, friends and co-workers over any racial statements they might make.
“[O]ur laws may no longer separate us based on our skin color, but nothing in the Constitution says we have to eat together in the lunchroom, or live together in the same neighborhoods,” Michelle Obama said. “There’s no court case against believing in stereotypes or thinking that certain kinds of hateful jokes or comments are funny.”
Mrs. Obama added that students need to “drag my generation and your grandparents’ generation along with you,” to fight racism.
“Maybe that starts simply in your own family, when grandpa tells that off-colored joke at Thanksgiving, or you’ve got an aunt [that] talks about ‘those people,’” she said. “Well, you can politely inform them that they’re talking about your friends.
“Or maybe it’s when you go off to college and you decide to join a sorority or fraternity, and you ask the question, how can we get more diversity in our next pledge class?” she added. “Or maybe it’s years from now, when you’re on the job and you’re the one who asks, do we really have all the voices and viewpoints we need at this table?
“But no matter what you do, the point is to never be afraid to talk about these issues, particularly the issue of race,” she said.
Mrs. Obama’s remarks came on the 60th anniversary of the supreme court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, which made it unconstitutional to segregate public schools according to race.
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