Amid an unsettled landscape agitated by racial tension and mistrust of law enforcement, First Lady Michelle Obama gave her first of three commencement address on Saturday to historically black college Tuskegee University.
The road ahead won't be easy, Obama told the graduates. It's never easy for "folks like you and me" she told the 500 newly lettered youth.
People won't always see you in those cap and gowns, Obama said. Referencing the social tribulation of the Tuskegee airmen, pioneering black pilots who fought for the U.S. in World War II, Obama sought to inspire the graduates at the Tuskegee, Ala. school.
"No matter how far you rise in life, how hard you work to be a good person, a good parent, a good citizen... for some people, it will never be enough," Obama said.
The first lady empathized with the struggles of young black people who suffer through those "daily slights," such as being avoided by other races at times or being thought of as hired help at formal events or being followed by department store staff.
"We've both felt the sting of those daily slights throughout our entire lives, the folks who cross the street in fear of their safety; the clerks who kept a close eye on us in all of those department stores; the people at formal events who assumed we were the help and those who have questioned our intelligence, our honesty and even our love of this country."
"And I know that these little indignities are obviously nothing compared to what folks across the country are dealing with every single day; those nagging worries that you're going to get pulled over for absolutely no reason; the fear that your job application will be overlooked because of the way your name is sounds," said Obama. "Those feelings are not an excuse to just throw up our hands and give up, not an excuse to lose hope."
Obama is just the second first lady to visit Tuskegee University. She has two more graduation ceremonies on her agenda, as she is scheduled to speak at Oberlin College and a Chicago high school.
