Michelle Obama Gives Final Commencement Speech At The City College Of New York

Michelle Obama Gives Final Commencement
Speech At The City College Of New York

BHR Hollywood Reports..........Michelle Obama delivered her 23rd and final commencement address as First Lady to graduates from the City College of New York in Harlem, celebrating the rich diversity of the class and the obstacles they overcame to make it there.

Michelle Obama Graduating students in the
 Class of 2016 at City College of New York

In a powerful moment, she connected their journey with the momentousness of her family's own American story: "It's the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, black young women — head off to school waving goodbye to their father, the President of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: To get an education and improve his prospects in life."

She used her platform to emphasize the mobility offered by the United States.

“It’s the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves,” she said.

Michelle Obama Attending the City
College Of New York Graduation 

Later in the speech, she appeared to reference the presumptive Republican nominee’s proposal to build a wall.

“This is not who we are,” she said. “That is not what this country stands for, no. No, here in America we don’t let our difference tell us apart — not here.”

Obama praised the City College of New York’s commitment to diversity: Half the students come from low-income households and 40% are the first in their families to attend college. She said the school offered a place where students "didn’t have to hide their last names or their accents.”
“All of you know for centuries this city has been the gateway to America for so many striving, hope-filled immigrants,” Obama said.

Michelle Obama 

She also warned against those who "tell us to be afraid of those who are different."

Obama praised the City College of New York’s commitment to diversity: Half the students come from low-income households and 40% are the first in their families to attend college. She said the school offered a place where students "didn’t have to hide their last names or their accents.”

“All of you know for centuries this city has been the gateway to America for so many striving, hope-filled immigrants,” Obama said.