Former US First Lady Michelle Obama has accused “white folk” of fleeing the south side of Chicago when her family moved into their neighborhood, saying “Y’all were running from us. And you’re still running.”
Michelle Obama added that she has no idea why white people are afraid of black people, saying “I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t explain what’s happening in your head.“
Speaking at the Obama Foundation summit held at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Michelle Obama described when she first became conscious of what’s been called “white flight.“
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In an interview with journalist Isabel Wilkerson, in which Obama was joined by her brother, Craig Robinson, an executive with the NBA’s New York Knicks, she said of her family:
“We were doing everything we were supposed to do – and better. But when we moved in, white families moved out.
“I want to remind white folks that y’all were running from us,” she continued, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “And you’re still running.”
Obama added that she has no idea why white people are afraid of black people.
“I can’t make people not afraid of black people,” she said, according to The Hill. “I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t explain what’s happening in your head.“
Mrs Obama also reflected on the importance of being the first black first family, a privilege which allowed the Obamas to earn enough money to purchase a $14.85 million Martha’s Vineyard estate with vaulted ceilings, a pool surrounded by a garden, and a winding driveway that’s more than a third of a mile long.
The moral of the story? When white people flee (white flight) it’s racist. When white people return (gentrification) it’s racist. Got it?
