Michelle Obama's sense of exclusion

This post is to provide links to Michelle Obama's paper written as part of her requirements for receiving a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Pay careful attention to her thoughts in the Introduction on pages 2 and 3.

http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf

http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_26-501.pdf

(see last sentence of p. 48)

http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_51-751.pdf

http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_76-981.pdf

In my opinion, so long as prominent members of the black community believe that their's should be a separate and segregated culture, well apart from mainstream white culture in the U.S., a lack of understanding and cooperation will persist and further aggravate the divisions in our society.

No one says that black culture should disappear, but to continue to promote a tone of grievance only succeeds in focusing on the grievance and not on solutions to the problems that every one of us in American society faces.

Imagine if the Italians and Irish continued to feel aggrieved by how they were treated (as a lower form of life) when they began to emigrate to the United States. They were treated nearly as slaves.

When Michelle Obama becomes First Lady of the United States, I hope she will be a First Lady for all Americans and not just for one segment of the population.