Proud and uplifted aren’t even a third of the words to describe Cory Booker and Michelle Obama’s speeches at last night’s Democratic National Convention.
Listen, I had high expectations for every speech tonight, because that’s how the democrats roll – we do EPIC speeches. BUT, my high expectations were more than reached after nearly being brought to my feet after Senator Cory Booker’s speech, and feeling the tears fill my eyes during FLOTUS’ speech.
Many people compare Cory Booker to Barack Obama because he’s young, fresh, gets his hands dirty and is loved by his community – and I get that. But the New Jersey Senator is his own person, and let’s be clear – just because a man happens to be black, and is a democratic senator doesn’t make him like Barack Obama. He is his own person, and yes he has the charisma of President Barack Obama, but he also has passion and individuality that sets him apart from others. In Senator Booker’s speech, he quoted Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise and evoked intense compassion as he called out for prison reform, and condemned the inequality that many people in our country still face. The captivating speech was incredibly moving as he engaged the crowd and shouted out, “America, we will RISE!”
Here’s his full speech below, Booker 2020 anyone?
And MICHELLE.OBAMA.
Ya’ll. Not gonna’ lie, I lost it. I lost it during her speech because she is a black woman who looks like me. Not only that, she is a black woman who is incredibly smart, cultured, classy and accomplished while still maintaining the down to earth persona that we all know and love. What I loved about her speech was that not once did she mention Donald Trump’s name. But with careful wording, she was able to destroy that man and call him out as the racist, incompetent bully that he truly is.
FLOTUS said that she wants “Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously. Someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.” Just like that, in one line we ALL knew who she was talking about. But for me, the highlight was when she pointed out the journey of many minorities by recognizing the challenges, and the civil rights struggles that we still face. She then acknowledged those who fought in the struggle, and gave me chills when she said, “I wake up in a house that was built by slaves.” Listen, if that isn’t a true testament to how far we’ve come, I don’t know what is.
And BTW, thanks to Michelle, my new motto is, “When they go low, we go high.”
My First Lady is classy, elegant, intelligent and just plain awesome.
Watch the full speech below!
-Shanda