米歇尔·奥巴马塔斯基吉大学毕业典礼演讲(视频）

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　　emarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee UniversityCommencement Address
        　　Tuskegee University
        　　Tuskegee, Alabama
        　　12:30 P.M. CDT
        　　MRS. OBAMA: Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you so much. (Applause.) Let’s
let ourgraduates rest themselves. You’ve worked hard for those seats!
(Applause.)
        　　Let me start by thanking President Johnson for that very gracious
introduction, and for awardingme with this honorary degree from an extraordinary
institution. I am proud to have this degree --very proud. (Applause.) Thank you.
Thank you so much. (Applause.)
        　　I want to recognize Major General Williams; Congresswoman Sewell; Zachary;
Kalauna; to all of thetrustees, the faculty, the staff here at Tuskegee
University. Thank you -- thank you so much forthis warm welcome, this tremendous
hospitality. And I'm so glad to be here. (Applause.)
        　　Before I begin, I just want to say that my heart goes out to everyone who
knew and loved EricMarks, Jr. I understand he was such a talented young man, a
promising aerospace engineer whowas well on his way to achieving his dream of
following in the footsteps of the Tuskegee Airmen. And Eric was taken from us
far too soon. And our thoughts and prayers will continue to be withhis family,
his friends, and this entire community. (Applause.)
        　　I also have to recognize the Concert Choir. Wow, you guys are good! Well
done! (Applause.) Beautiful song. (Applause.) And I have to join in recognizing
all the folks up in the stands -- theparents, siblings, friends -- (applause) --
so many others who have poured their love and supportinto these graduates every
step of the way. Yeah, this is your day. (Applause.) Your day. (Applause.)
        　　Now, on this day before Mother’s Day, I’ve got to give a special shout-out
to all the moms here. (Applause.) Yay, moms! And I want you to consider this as
a public service announcement foranyone who hasn’t bought the flowers or the
cards or the gifts yet -- all right? I’m trying to coveryou. (Laughter.) But
remember that one rule is “keep mom happy.” (Laughter.) All right?
(Applause.)
        　　And finally, most of all, I want to congratulate the men and women of the
Tuskegee UniversityClass of 2015! (Applause.) T-U!
        　　AUDIENCE: You know!
       
        　　米歇尔·奥巴马的演讲从6′开始
        　　(http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XOTU3MTY5ODQw.html?tpa=dW5pb25faWQ9MTAyMjEzXzEwMDAwMl8wMV8wMQ)
        　　MRS. OBAMA: I love that. (Applause.) We can do that all day. (Laughter.)
I'm so proud of youall. And you look good. (Applause.) Well done!
        　　You all have come here from all across the country to study, to learn,
maybe have a little fun alongthe way -- from freshman year in Adams or Younge
Hall -- (applause) -- to those late night foodruns to The Coop. (Applause.) I
did my research. (Applause.) To those mornings you woke upearly to get a spot
under The Shed to watch the Golden Tigers play. (Applause.) Yeah! I've
beenwatching! (Laughter.) At the White House we have all kinds of ways.
(Laughter.)
        　　And whether you played sports yourself, or sang in the choir, orplayed in
the band, or joined a fraternity or sorority -- aftertoday, all of you will take
your spot in the long line of men andwomen who have come here and distinguished
themselves andthis university.
        　　You will follow alums like many of your parents andgrandparents, aunts and
uncles -- leaders like Robert RobinsonTaylor, a groundbreaking architect and
administrator here whowas recently honored on a postage stamp. (Applause.) You
will follow heroes like Dr. BoyntonRobinson -- (applause) -- who survived the
billy clubs and the tear gas of Bloody Sunday in Selma. The story of Tuskegee is
full of stories like theirs -- men and women who came to this city, seizedtheir
own futures, and wound up shaping the arc of history for African Americans and
allAmericans.
        　　And I’d like to begin today by reflecting on that history -- starting back
at the time when the Armychose Tuskegee as the site of its airfield and flight
school for black pilots. (Applause.)
        　　Back then, black soldiers faced all kinds of obstacles. There were the
so-called scientific studies thatsaid that black men’s brains were smaller than
white men’s. Official Army reports stated that blacksoldiers were “childlike,”
“shiftless,” “unmoral and untruthful,” and as one quote stated, “if fed,
loyaland compliant.”
        　　So while the Airmen selected for this program were actually highly educated
-- many already hadcollege degrees and pilots licenses -- they were presumed to
be inferior. During training, they wereoften assigned to menial tasks like
housekeeping or landscaping. Many suffered verbal abuse at thehands of their
instructors. When they ventured off base, the white sheriff here in town called
them“boy” and ticketed them for the most minor offenses. And when they finally
deployed overseas,white soldiers often wouldn’t even return their salutes.
        　　Just think about what that must have been like for those young men. Here
they were, trained tooperate some of the most complicated, high-tech machines of
their day -- flying at hundreds ofmiles an hour, with the tips of their wings
just six inches apart. Yet when they hit the ground, folkstreated them like they
were nobody -- as if their very existence meant nothing.
        　　Now, those Airmen could easily have let that experience clip their wings.
But as you all know,instead of being defined by the discrimination and the
doubts of those around them, they becameone of the most successful pursuit
squadrons in our military. (Applause.) They went on to showthe world that if
black folks and white folks could fight together, and fly together, then surely
--surely -- they could eat at a lunch counter together. Surely their kids could
go to school together. (Applause.)
        　　You see, those Airmen always understood that they had a “double duty” --
one to their countryand another to all the black folks who were counting on them
to pave the way forward. (Applause.) So for those Airmen, the act of flying
itself was a symbol of liberation for themselvesand for all African
Americans.
        　　One of those first pilots, a man named Charles DeBow, put it this way. He
said that a takeoff was --in his words -- “a never-failing miracle” where all
“the bumps would smooth off… [you’re] in theair… out of this world… free.”
            
            

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        　　And when he was up in the sky, Charles sometimes looked down to see black
folks out in thecotton fields not far from here -- the same fields where decades
before, their ancestors as slaves.And he knew that he was taking to the skies
for them -- to give them and their children somethingmore to hope for, something
to aspire to.
        　　And in so many ways, that never-failing miracle -- the constant work to
rise above the bumps inour path to greater freedom for our brothers and sisters
-- that has always been the story ofAfrican Americans here at Tuskegee.
(Applause.)
        　　Just think about the arc of this university’s history. Back in the late
1800s, the school needed anew dormitory, but there was no money to pay for it.
So Booker T. Washington pawned hispocket watch to buy a kiln, and students used
their bare hands to make bricks to build that dorm -- and a few other buildings
along the way. (Applause.)
        　　A few years later, when George Washington Carver first came here for his
research, there was nolaboratory. So he dug through trash piles and collected
old bottles, and tea cups, and fruit jars touse in his first experiments.
        　　Generation after generation, students here have shown that same grit, that
same resilience to soarpast obstacles and outrages -- past the threat of
countryside lynchings; past the humiliation of JimCrow; past the turmoil of the
Civil Rights era. And then they went on to become scientists,engineers, nurses
and teachers in communities all across the country -- and continued to lift
othersup along the way. (Applause.)
        　　And while the history of this campus isn’t perfect, the defining story of
Tuskegee is the story ofrising hopes and fortunes for all African Americans.
        　　And now, graduates, it’s your turn to take up that cause. And let me tell
you, you should feel soproud of making it to this day. And I hope that you’re
excited to get started on that nextchapter. But I also imagine that you might
think about all that history, all those heroes who camebefore you -- you might
also feel a little pressure, you know -- pressure to live up to the legacy
ofthose who came before you; pressure to meet the expectations of others.
        　　And believe me, I understand that kind of pressure. (Applause.) I’ve
experienced a little bit of itmyself. You see, graduates, I didn’t start out as
the fully-formed First Lady who stands before youtoday. No, no, I had my share
of bumps along the way.
        　　Back when my husband first started campaigning for President, folks had all
sorts of questions ofme: What kind of First Lady would I be? What kinds of
issues would I take on? Would I be morelike Laura Bush, or Hillary Clinton, or
Nancy Reagan? And the truth is, those same questions wouldhave been posed to any
candidate’s spouse. That’s just the way the process works. But, aspotentially
the first African American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of
questions andspeculations; conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and
misperceptions of others. Was Itoo loud, or too angry, or too emasculating?
(Applause.) Or was I too soft, too much of a mom,not enough of a career
woman?
        　　Then there was the first time I was on a magazine cover -- it was a cartoon
drawing of me with ahuge afro and machine gun. Now, yeah, it was satire, but if
I’m really being honest, it knocked meback a bit. It made me wonder, just how
are people seeing me.
        　　Or you might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bumpbetween me and my
husband after a primary win that wasreferred to as a “terrorist fist jab.” And
over the years, folkshave used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One
saidI exhibited “a little bit of uppity-ism.“ Another noted that I wasone of my
husband’s “cronies of color.” Cable news oncecharmingly referred to me as
“Obama’s Baby Mama.”
        　　And of course, Barack has endured his fair share of insults andslights.
Even today, there are still folks questioning his citizenship.
        　　And all of this used to really get to me. Back in those days, I had a lot
of sleepless nights, worryingabout what people thought of me, wondering if I
might be hurting my husband’s chances ofwinning his election, fearing how my
girls would feel if they found out what some people weresaying about their
mom.
        　　But eventually, I realized that if I wanted to keep my sanity and not let
others define me, there wasonly one thing I could do, and that was to have faith
in God’s plan for me. (Applause.) I had toignore all of the noise and be true to
myself -- and the rest would work itself out. (Applause.)
        　　So throughout this journey, I have learned to block everything out and
focus on my truth. I hadto answer some basic questions for myself: Who am I? No,
really, who am I? What do I careabout?
        　　And the answers to those questions have resulted in the woman who stands
before you today. (Applause.) A woman who is, first and foremost, a mom.
(Applause.) Look, I love our daughtersmore than anything in the world, more than
life itself. And while that may not be the first thing thatsome folks want to
hear from an Ivy-league educated lawyer, it is truly who I am. (Applause.) Sofor
me, being Mom-in-Chief is, and always will be, job number one.
        　　Next, I’ve always felt a deep sense of obligation to make the biggest
impact possible with thisincredible platform. So I took on issues that were
personal to me -- issues like helping families raisehealthier kids, honoring the
incredible military families I’d met on the campaign trail, inspiring ouryoung
people to value their education and finish college. (Applause.)
        　　Now, some folks criticized my choices for not being bold enough. But these
were my choices, myissues. And I decided to tackle them in the way that felt
most authentic to me -- in a way that wasboth substantive and strategic, but
also fun and, hopefully, inspiring.
        　　So I immersed myself in the policy details. I worked with Congress on
legislation, gave speeches toCEOs, military generals and Hollywood executives.
But I also worked to ensure that my effortswould resonate with kids and families
-- and that meant doing things in a creative andunconventional way. So, yeah, I
planted a garden, and hula-hooped on the White House Lawnwith kids. I did some
Mom Dancing on TV. I celebrated military kids with Kermit the Frog. I askedfolks
across the country to wear their alma mater’s T-shirts for College Signing
Day.
        　　And at the end of the day, by staying true to the me I’ve always known, I
found that this journeyhas been incredibly freeing. Because no matter what
happened, I had the peace of mind ofknowing that all of the chatter, the name
calling, the doubting -- all of it was just noise. (Applause.) It did not define
me. It didn’t change who I was. And most importantly, it couldn’thold me back. I
have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values -- and follow
myown moral compass -- then the only expectations I need to live up to are my
own.
        　　So, graduates, that’s what I want for all of you. I want you all to stay
true to the most real, mostsincere, most authentic parts of yourselves. I want
you to ask those basic questions: Who doyou want to be? What inspires you? How
do you want to give back? And then I want you totake a deep breath and trust
yourselves to chart your own course and make your mark on theworld.
        　　Maybe it feels like you’re supposed to go to law school -- but what you
really want to do is to teachlittle kids. Maybe your parents are expecting you
to come back home after you graduate -- butyou’re feeling a pull to travel the
world. I want you to listen to those thoughts. I want you to actwith both your
mind, but also your heart. And no matter what path you choose, I want you tomake
sure it’s you choosing it, and not someone else. (Applause.)
            
            

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        　　Because here’s the thing -- the road ahead is not going to be easy. It
never is, especially for folkslike you and me. Because while we’ve come so far,
the truth is that those age-old problems arestubborn and they haven’t fully gone
away. So there will be times, just like for those Airmen, whenyou feel like
folks look right past you, or they see just a fraction of who you really
are.
        　　The world won’t always see you in those caps and gowns. They won’t know how
hard youworked and how much you sacrificed to make it to this day -- the
countless hours you spentstudying to get this diploma, the multiple jobs you
worked to pay for school, the times you had todrive home and take care of your
grandma, the evenings you gave up to volunteer at a foodbank or organize a
campus fundraiser. They don't know that part of you.
        　　Instead they will make assumptions about who they think you are based on
their limited notion ofthe world. And my husband and I know how frustrating that
experience can be. We’ve both feltthe sting of those daily slights throughout
our entire lives -- the folks who crossed the street in fearof their safety; the
clerks who kept a close eye on us in all those department stores; the people
atformal events who assumed we were the “help” -- and those who have questioned
our intelligence,our honesty, even our love of this country.
        　　And I know that these little indignities are obviously nothing compared to
what folks across thecountry are dealing with every single day -- those nagging
worries that you’re going to getstopped or pulled over for absolutely no reason;
the fear that your job application will beoverlooked because of the way your
name sounds; the agony of sending your kids to schoolsthat may no longer be
separate, but are far from equal; the realization that no matter how far yourise
in life, how hard you work to be a good person, a good parent, a good citizen --
for somefolks, it will never be enough. (Applause.)
        　　And all of that is going to be a heavy burden to carry. It can feel
isolating. It can make you feellike your life somehow doesn’t matter -- that
you’re like the invisible man that Tuskegee grad RalphEllison wrote about all
those years ago. And as we’ve seen over the past few years, those feelingsare
real. They’re rooted in decades of structural challenges that have made too many
folks feelfrustrated and invisible. And those feelings are playing out in
communities like Baltimore andFerguson and so many others across this country.
(Applause.)
        　　But, graduates, today, I want to be very clear that those feelings are not
an excuse to just throwup our hands and give up. (Applause.) Not an excuse. They
are not an excuse to lose hope. Tosuccumb to feelings of despair and anger only
means that in the end, we lose.
        　　But here’s the thing -- our history provides us with a better story, a
better blueprint for how wecan win. It teaches us that when we pull ourselves
out of those lowest emotional depths, and wechannel our frustrations into
studying and organizing and banding together -- then we can buildourselves and
our communities up. We can take on those deep-rooted problems, and together
--together -- we can overcome anything that stands in our way.
        　　And the first thing we have to do is vote. (Applause.) Hey, no, not just
once in a while. Not justwhen my husband or somebody you like is on the ballot.
But in every election at every level, all ofthe time. (Applause.) Because here
is the truth -- if you want to have a say in your community, ifyou truly want
the power to control your own destiny, then you’ve got to be involved. You gotto
be at the table. You’ve got to vote, vote, vote, vote. That’s it; that's the way
we moveforward. That’s how we make progress for ourselves and for our
country.
        　　That’s what’s always happened here at Tuskegee. Think about those students
who made brickswith their bare hands. They did it so that others could follow
them and learn on this campus, too. Think about that brilliant scientist who
made his lab from a trash pile. He did it because heultimately wanted to help
sharecroppers feed their families. Those Airmen who rose above
brutaldiscrimination -- they did it so the whole world could see just how high
black folks could soar. That’s the spirit we’ve got to summon to take on the
challenges we face today. (Applause.)
        　　And you don’t have to be President of the United States to start addressing
things like poverty,and education, and lack of opportunity. Graduates, today --
today, you can mentor a youngperson and make sure he or she takes the right
path. Today, you can volunteer at an after-schoolprogram or food pantry. Today,
you can help your younger cousin fill out her college financial aidform so that
she could be sitting in those chairs one day. (Applause.) But just like all
those folkswho came before us, you’ve got to do something to lay the groundwork
for future generations.
        　　That pilot I mentioned earlier -- Charles DeBow -- he didn’t rest on his
laurels after making history. Instead, after he left the Army, he finished his
education. He became a high school English teacherand a college lecturer. He
kept lifting other folks up through education. He kept fulfilling his“double
duty” long after he hung up his uniform.
        　　And, graduates, that’s what we need from all of you. We need you to channel
the magic ofTuskegee toward the challenges of today. And here’s what I really
want you to know -- you havegot everything you need to do this. You’ve got it in
you. Because even if you’re nervous orunsure about what path to take in the
years ahead, I want you to realize that you’ve goteverything you need right now
to succeed. You’ve got it.
        　　You’ve got the knowledge and the skills honed here on this hallowed campus.
You’ve got familiesup in the stands who will support you every step of the way.
And most of all, you’ve gotyourselves -- and all of the heart, and grit, and
smarts that got you to this day.
        　　And if you rise above the noise and the pressures that surround you, if you
stay true to who youare and where you come from, if you have faith in God’s plan
for you, then you will keep fulfillingyour duty to people all across this
country. And as the years pass, you’ll feel the same freedomthat Charles DeBow
did when he was taking off in that airplane. You will feel the bumps smoothoff.
You’ll take part in that “never-failing miracle” of progress. And you’ll be
flying through the air,out of this world -- free.
        　　God bless you, graduates. (Applause.) I can’t wait to see how high you
soar. Love you all. Veryproud. Thank you. (Applause.)