Michelle Obama Argues Protesting Isn’t Enough: ‘Couple Every Protest With Plans And Policies’

Michelle Obama called for 2020 graduates to couple their protests with organizing, mobilizing and voting, according to The Hill.

During a commencement address on June 7, Michelle Obama spoke about widespread demonstrations to fight police brutality and racism.

“You deserve this celebration. Congratulations,” she said during the start of the address, which was streamed on YouTube. “This is an important time of transition. In light of the current state of our country, I struggle to find the right words of wisdom for you today.”

“So I am here today to talk to you, not as the former first lady but as a real-life person, a mother, a mentor, a citizen concerned about your future and the future of our country because right now, all that superficial stuff of titles and positions, all of that has been stripped away,” she continued. “A lot of us are reckoning with the most basic essence of who we are.”

She noted that the country’s “foundation has been shaken.”

“Not just by a pandemic that stole too many of our loved ones, upended our daily lives and sent tens of millions into unemployment but also by the rumbling of the age-old fault lines that our country was built on, the lines of race and power that are now once again so nakedly exposed for all of us to grapple with,” she said.

“It’s up to you to march hand in hand with your allies, to stand peacefully with dignity and purpose on the front lines in the fight for justice,” she said.

“Graduates, anger is a powerful force. It can be a useful force, but left on its own, it will only corrode and destroy and sow chaos on the inside and out. But when anger is focused, when it’s channeled into something more, oh, that is the stuff that changes history,” she continued.

“Dr. King was angry. Sojourner Truth was angry. Lucretia Mott, Cesar Chavez, the folks at Stonewall, they were all angry. But those folks were also driven by compassion, by principle, by hope. And so they took advantage of whatever resources they had in their own time,” she added.

“Graduates, this is how you can finish the work that the generations before you have started, by staying open and hopeful even in the tough times, by channeling that discomfort you feel into activism and a democracy that was designed to respond to those who vote,” she said.

“I have seen exactly who you are. I’ve seen your creativity and your talent and your resourcefulness. I’ve seen you speaking out to end gun violence and fight climate change,” Obama continued. “I’ve seen you gathering donations for those in need during this pandemic. I have seen you marching with peace and with purpose. And that is why, even in tough times like these, you continue to be what gives me hope.”

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Obama remarked on the ongoing protests in her address to graduates on Sunday while also urging them to “speak out against cruelty, dishonesty, bigotry, all of it.”

But Obama also called on graduates to make sure they “couple every protest with plans and policies, with organizing and mobilizing and voting.”

Toward the end of her remarks, the former first lady, whose organization When We All Vote works to boost voter participation across the U.S., also called on graduates to text “everybody you know to join you in exercising their constitutional right to protest” a link to register to vote.

The former first lady delivered the address as part of a virtual commencement ceremony hosted by YouTube called “Dear Class of 2020.” The virtual event also featured appearances from other prominent figures, including Obama’s husband, former President Obama, Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott, Jennifer Lopez, Megan Thee Stallion and Taylor Swift.