The Light We Carry Tour

What an amazing crowd and conversation last night at our first #TheLightWeCarry show in Atlanta with my friend @TylerPerry. Can’t wait to do it all again tonight! pic.twitter.com/mClcjRYZiY

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 3, 2022

I so enjoyed moderating this conversation with former First Lady @MichelleObama about her new book #TheLightWeCarry
Thank you for reminding us all that we have a light and we should use it to make each other better. pic.twitter.com/Kgf9z6l7ca

— Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) December 3, 2022

I’m having such a wonderful time seeing so many of you on my #TheLightWeCarry book tour. @TylerPerry, thank you for joining me these last two nights in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/iN2QDkZfcA

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 4, 2022

I know I can count on @DNice to always bring great vibes, get people dancing, and show everyone a good time.

I'm grateful that he's helped power the music for each #TheLightWeCarry book tour stop and that he took some time to join us in person yesterday in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/3LCx1fPA4q

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 5, 2022

Love this! Thank you for coming together and celebrating #TheLightWeCarry. ❤️ https://t.co/XkSNeG3lSo

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 5, 2022

There’s no place like home! Such a fun night in Chicago with David @Letterman and all who joined. #TheLightWeCarry pic.twitter.com/YQmuzBhC6C

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 6, 2022

.@hmcghee and I are thrilled for tonight’s show and can’t wait to talk about #TheLightWeCarry with all of you!

Chicago, are you ready? pic.twitter.com/DQOzhLFBbP

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 7, 2022

Chicago! Thanks for a terrific show—and a special thanks to @hmcghee for leading such a meaningful conversation.

It always means so much to be back in my hometown and to see so many of my family, friends, and readers. Thank you for sharing your light with me. #TheLightWeCarry pic.twitter.com/d6rJ5tuBCb

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) December 7, 2022

One Million Meals

I'm so excited to announce our first partner cities—Atlanta and Cleveland—for our Pass the Love campaign with @PHAnews! With your help, we can reach our goal of distributing one million meals to families in need. I hope you’ll take a moment to donate at https://t.co/s0WCBvE8HK! pic.twitter.com/r8JYX5My1m

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 10, 2021

We Should. But We Can’t

A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country. It’s time for leaders everywhere to listen to the American people when they say enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/7MEJ87Is3E

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 23, 2021

Hatred And Violence

Even as we’ve battled the pandemic, we’ve continued to neglect the longer-lasting epidemic of gun violence in America. Although the shooter’s motive is not yet clear, the identity of the victims underscores an alarming rise in anti-Asian violence that must end.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

Yesterday's shootings are another tragic reminder that we have far more work to do to put in place commonsense gun safety laws and root out the pervasive patterns of hatred and violence in our society.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

Michelle and I pray for the victims, their families, everyone grieving these needless and devastating killings—and we urge meaningful action that will save lives.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 17, 2021

As if these things aren't related and based on centuries of sexualized and submissive stereotypes of Asian women. White supremacy is rooted in misogyny and racism. https://t.co/C42KyqTGIP

— Millie Tran (@millie) March 17, 2021

When men frame a murderer's actions in terms of him "having a bad day" I can't help but hear them telling the world that they themselves are one bad day away from murdering women, & demanding empathy & recognition for that fact.

— Amal El-Mohtar (@tithenai) March 17, 2021

He had a really bad day. Women die because men have bad days. https://t.co/E8Wn2qocva

— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) March 17, 2021

White supremacist classist patriarchy is dangerous because it insists on dominance. It leads white men to think we all have to pay for their “bad day.”

Because apparently the racist, misogynistic fetishization and abuse of Asian women is just a white dude having a “bad day.”

— brittany packnett cunningham is on extended break. (@MsPackyetti) March 17, 2021

It’s not economic anxiety, diabetes, or sex addiction. It’s racial hatred. Stop playing on my phone.

— Openly Black Studs Twerkel. (@thewayoftheid) March 17, 2021

Take Up Space

We are shaken by the violence in our city that has left 8 ppl dead, including members of the Asian American community. We are gathering info about what happened & the needs of directly impacted are. Now is the time to hold the victims & their families in our hearts & with light pic.twitter.com/Hft5H7IZNW

— AdvancingJusticeATL (@AAAJ_Atlanta) March 17, 2021

I want to know their names, who and what they loved, the people they had waiting for them at home, everything they hoped for. I want to know the fabric of their days and the contexts of their lives.

— kat chow (@katchow) March 17, 2021

"Racism against AAPI Americans is not new.

Otherization of AAPI Americans is not new.

But the motto of the United States is E Pluribus Unum: 'Out of many, one.'

Asian-Americans are part of our country’s plurality.

We are some of the many, and we’re part of that one."#gapol pic.twitter.com/o2lzNb4iIy

— Dr. Michelle Au (@AuforGA) March 15, 2021

In less than 48 hours, we had a historic Asian Oscar moment with multiple firsts in 93 years—then a mass shooting targeting 3 Asian-owned businesses. This is how terrorism works—you’re not allowed to feel safe, accepted, or valued. We can resist. Take up space. Make noise.

— Min Jin Lee (@minjinlee11) March 17, 2021

Last night's shooting & the appalling rise of anti-Asian violence stem frm a sick society where nationalism has again been stoked & normalized. Anti-Black & anti-Asian racism & violence run in tandem in the U.S. Both grps were brought here for labor but never meant to be citizens

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Even as this country was recruiting Chinese men to come do the labor white workers would not, they barred Chinese women from entering the U.S. in order to ensure the men would not settle and start families in America.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Then this nation passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to prohibit Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. altogether. This nation's most egregious racist laws and racist Supreme Court rulings targeted Black and Chinese people because of the believe both were unassimilable.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

We had to get an amendment to the Constitution to guarantee Black Americans citizenship in their own country, and Chinese Americans had to take a case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to have their own citizenship recognized. https://t.co/7qY7M4f6ln

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

If you look at racial real estate covenants -- provisions placed on homes that restricted ownership by race -- they almost always restricted two races: Black and Asian.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

And, of course, during World War II, Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps but German Americans were not. And German prisoners of war were allowed to eat in restaurants in the American South that Black Americans soldiers home on leave were barred from.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act and explicitly racist immigration policy, the Asian population in the United States stayed relatively low until after the Civil Rights Movement and then we saw large numbers entering the U.S.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

And what has followed -- in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement and Black demands to dismantle white supremacy -- has been an enduring an attempt to use Asian immigrants and Asian Americans as a wedge against Black Americans.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

But the truth is that Asian Americans are only held up as a model to justify inequality and injustice visited upon Black Americans, but are seen by many white Americans as a problem and forever foreign otherwise. In other words, our struggles have always been tied together.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

I stand with my Asian-American brothers and sisters, just as so many of you have stood with us. I grieve. We must own all of this history -- ALL OF IT -- and determine to fight for a truly multiracial democracy where we all can be free.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

The reported shootings of Asian American women on Tuesday in Atlanta is an unspeakable tragedy – for the families of the victims first and foremost, but also for the AAPI community — which has been reeling from high levels of racial discrimination. https://t.co/rBVPnrEBps

— Stop AAPI Hate (@StopAAPIHate) March 17, 2021

A statement from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum makes the important point of how anti-Asian violence disproportionately impact women #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/npEpv31Oy1

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 17, 2021

Michelle Obama STEM Elementary School

A Georgia county has voted to rename an elementary school after former first lady Michelle Obama https://t.co/gQDSNtgvqG

— CNN (@CNN) October 9, 2020

Together, You Can Redeem The Soul Of Our Nation

Thank You, John Lewis

John believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage and a longing to do what’s right. We are so lucky to have had him show us the way. I offered some thoughts today on his life and how, like him, we can give it all we have. https://t.co/7UHT86OzEj

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 30, 2020

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Every word of this ❤️❤️❤️️. We love you, Congressman Lewis. And we’ll do our best to honor your service and sacrifice with our own. https://t.co/8cuBgH1k4p

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) July 30, 2020

Homegoing: John Lewis

The Boy From Troy

“Never Give Up, Never Give In. Get Into Good Trouble”...in tears as I hear the words of John Lewis ring out in the Capitol Rotunda as he lies in state..... my heart aches with sadness, pride, and renewed purpose. Rest In Peace, Good Sir. pic.twitter.com/FwQpV1pY11

— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) July 27, 2020

The voice of Rep. John Lewis in the United States Capitol. pic.twitter.com/beNRdRz1ef

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) July 27, 2020

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Remembering U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis by Jacqueline OBoomer

The boy from Troy
Whose Mother no doubt
Did not want him to go
Traveled to the bridge
So long ago, so long ago

He marched with Dr. King
And spoke at the podium before him
They had to tone down his words
Because he spoke the harsh truth
And while he spoke the truth
He learned so well
And taught others
And I’m guessing for his Mother
To tone down the words
Forgive the others
Make his impassioned plea
Make it a learning event
On the road to Congress
Where he spent long years
And became its conscience
Educated more youthful soldiers
Boys and girls from Troy
And everywhere

Never to be taken down
And told not to be so harsh
Again.
Because he found his voice
He found his voice.

Today he is driven in a hearse
Through the streets of Washington
To pay respects at the
National Museum of African American
History and Culture
That he worked to achieve and the
Lincoln Memorial and
Black Lives Matter Lane and
the U.S. Capitol
And be driven nearby the souls who
Loved him
Some waiting in the streets.

It’s touching
It’s hard to watch.

I am so glad I got the chance
To witness the history from afar
I saw the boy from Troy speak
Before Dr. King at the podium
I saw him visit
Black Lives Matter plaza this year
I saw him in Congress
Sometimes during late-night hours
When he was speaking up
And standing up
For his fellow Americans

Gone but not forgotten
A treasure sent for only a little while
Borrowed from his Mother
So he could dedicate his life to
Getting in good trouble and now
His life has space at the museum
His life mattered
Our hearts break
Good trouble.

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John Lewis becomes the FIRST Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda and his casket rests atop the catafalque built for President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral in 1865. #JohnLewis #GoodTrouble pic.twitter.com/wLfcdF7WdM

— theGrio.com (@theGrio) July 27, 2020

The procession for civil rights icon John Lewis and his family pauses at the Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., as the congressman makes his way to the U.S. Capitol for one final time. https://t.co/cNuE67wXMO pic.twitter.com/xvLCTJMrNZ

— ABC News (@ABC) July 27, 2020