First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at the Union Market to celebrate International Women’s Day. First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to women gathered to mark the first anniversary of the Let Girls Learn initiative
****
"The confidence to stand up and demand justice and equality - all of that starts with education." —The First Lady on #InternationalWomensDay
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) March 08, 2025
Happy #InternationalWomensDay! When women are free to pursue their dreams, nations are more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.
— President Obama (@POTUS) March 08, 2025
****
****
Hey @Always! We would love to see a girl studying emoji. Education empowers girls around the world. #LetGirlsLearn #LikeAGirl
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) March 08, 2025
.@FLOTUS Great idea, girls can be anything! Let's do this! #LetGirlsLearn #LikeAGirl https://t.co/ZQQqlYbMx0
— (@Always) March 08, 2025
****
Thought you might also like this one ☺ @FLOTUS #LetGirlsLearn #LikeAGirl #IWD2016 https://t.co/OoQsN8NsCH
— (@Always) March 08, 2025
.@FLOTUS 50 incredible photos of girls going to school around the world #LetGirlsLearn huff.to/1Ryb5jx https://t.co/VQGG6NHfp4
— (@HuffPostWomen) March 08, 2025
****
"The barriers to girls’ education isn’t just resources. It’s about attitudes and beliefs." —The First Lady on #InternationalWomensDay.
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) March 08, 2025
#OneDayIWill see a world where every child can go to school and fulfill their boundless potential. #IWD2016 https://t.co/FonwXCYQAC
“Where the jazz makes you cry, the funerals make you dance, and the bayou makes you believe all kinds of things.”
President Barack Obama holds a child as he greets residents in the the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans for the 10th anniversary since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Tremé is one of the oldest black neighborhoods in America
****
****
President Barack Obama with Mayor Mitch Landrieu
****
****
****
****
****
President Barack Obama sits for lunch at Willie Mae’s restaurant with young men from My Brother’s Keeper initiative
****
President Barack Obama participates in a roundtable on Hurricane Katrina at the Andrew P. Sanchez Community Center in New Orleans
****
****
President Barack Obama speaks during an event to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 27, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. President Obama spoke at the Andrew P. Sanchez & Copelin-Byrd Multi-Service Center located in the Lower 9th Ward, a largely African-American neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit by the storm
President Barack Obama: President Obama’s Letter To The Editor
‘We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. …’’ It’s a cruel irony that the words that set our democracy in motion were used as part of the so-called literacy test designed to deny Rosanell and so many other African-Americans the right to vote. Yet more than 70 years ago, as she defiantly delivered the Preamble to our Constitution, Rosanell also reaffirmed its fundamental truth. What makes our country great is not that we are perfect, but that with time, courage and effort, we can become more perfect. What makes America special is our capacity to change. Nearly three decades after Rosanell testified to her unbroken faith in this country, that faith was vindicated.
The Voting Rights Act put an end to literacy tests and other forms of discrimination, helping to close the gap between our promise that all of us are created equal and our long history of denying some of us the right to vote. The impact was immediate, and profound — the percentage of African-Americans registered to vote skyrocketed in the years after the Voting Rights Act was passed. But as Rutenberg chronicles, from the moment the ink was dry on the Voting Rights Act, there has been a concentrated effort to undermine this historic law and turn back the clock on its progress. I am where I am today only because men and women like Rosanell Eaton refused to accept anything less than a full measure of equality. Their efforts made our country a better place. It is now up to us to continue those efforts. Congress must restore the Voting Rights Act.
More here
****
Yes. President Obama pens letter to @NYTmag on the violence done to the Voting Rights Act and what must happen next. nyti.ms/1gz6Adc
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) August 12, 2025
"Congress must restore the Voting Rights Act." —@POTUS in @NYTmag: nyti.ms/1L5jU6l #VRA50 http://t.co/c2H4ZSJiZx
We celebrate his singular life each time we
think of his good works
and the hope and change he brought.
We commemorate his birth in January.
We visit his memorial on the mall
Year-round.
We tell his remarkable story
to the little children of today.
We’d rather leave the marking of the date
he was assassinated in Memphis
to the history books.
But all of it is what we were given
and what he was given.
And, this year, as we recall it was
forty-seven years ago on April 4
that his “four little children”
lost him …
Let us not forget about them
as we rejoice that he belonged to the world
for as long as he did
as we examine the “content of his character”
around the globe, as long as we all still do.
In our minds, we will remember him
and that our voices must keep
challenging the injustices
as we keep yearning for equality for all.
That night,
Robert Kennedy suggested
we dedicate ourselves
to what the Greeks had written
many years before:
“To tame the savageness of man and
make gentle the life of this world.”
A man named Barack Obama,
also in our hearts,
who later
became our President,
surely has dedicated himself to
“taming the savageness of man”
throughout the world
and to a “more perfect union”
here at home.
This year, no matter our religious beliefs
or non-beliefs,
it seems quite fitting somehow,
if only for the history books,
that the date we recall sits between
Good Friday and Passover and Easter
while prayers from other faiths are also
being said,
around the clock,
all over the globe,
in the interests of the human race.
Dr. King, always in our hearts.
Hope and change, always on the horizon,
to “make gentle the life of this world.”
****
****
****
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Today marks the 47th anniversary of his death. http://t.co/LZmQMF6ydw
— deray mckesson (@deray) April 04, 2025
Today marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. May he rest in peace 👑 http://t.co/zOsKGtyR2p
— Black Girls (@BlackGirlsWinni) April 04, 2025
****
****
Part of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's last speech, night before 4-4-68: "I've Been To The Mountaintop": youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk via @YouTube
— (@JOBoomr) April 04, 2025
Today, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His example pushes us to keep fighting for justice. http://t.co/fo7XnyvJtX
President Barack Obama smiles while speaking during an event marking the 5th anniversay of the Affordable Care Act at the South Court Auditorium of Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.
****
****
****
"More than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained health coverage." —President Obama #BetterWithObamacare http://t.co/a0ZKHUGbTl
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 25, 2025
"In just over one year, the ranks of the uninsured have dropped by nearly one-third." —Obama #BetterWithObamacare http://t.co/BqbtGvJ427
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 25, 2025
****
President Barack Obama takes a bow as he is introduced by Dr. Nancy Beran
****
"You can no longer be charged more just for being a woman." —President Obama on the Affordable Care Act #BetterWithObamacare
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 25, 2025
"This law means that you can no longer be charged more or denied coverage. Ever." —President Obama #BetterWithObamacare
— White House Live (@WHLive) March 25, 2025
****
****
"Just 5 years in—the Affordable Care Act has already helped improve the quality of health care across the board" —Obama #BetterWithObamacare
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 25, 2025
"It’s a major reason we’ve seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals." —President Obama #BetterWithObamacare
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 25, 2025
****
President Barack Obama smiles after joking about a lack of a predicted Republican alternative to Obamacare
****
"This law is saving money for families and for businesses. This law is also saving lives." —President Obama #BetterWithObamacare
— White House Live (@WHLive) March 25, 2025
"We declared that in the United States of America, the security of quality, affordable health care was not a privilege, but a right." —Obama
This day, many hadn’t come
But all that was for naught
Because no one really noticed.
Those who came could have
Closed their eyes and still felt
The singular beauty of the place.
Could have still heard the silenced voices
Of the old warriors, and could have
Heard the sound the old bridge made
With the wind softly moving through it
And the shoes passionately walking over it
All voices still silent.
See and hear the beauty of the place
Look out into the rivers of time
Touch each other in
Warm embrace
And feel the beauty of the day.
The remarkable memories it brought
Were enough. I wouldn’t change a thing.
No need to change the name of the bridge, either
That bridge belongs to everyone and no one, anyway.
****
****
President Obama:
It is a rare honor in this life to follow one of your heroes. And John Lewis is one of my heroes.
Now, I have to imagine that when a younger John Lewis woke up that morning fifty years ago and made his way to Brown Chapel, heroics were not on his mind. A day like this was not on his mind. Young folks with bedrolls and backpacks were milling about. Veterans of the movement trained newcomers in the tactics of non-violence; the right way to protect yourself when attacked. A doctor described what tear gas does to the body, while marchers scribbled down instructions for contacting their loved ones. The air was thick with doubt, anticipation, and fear. They comforted themselves with the final verse of the final hymn they sung:
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.
Then, his knapsack stocked with an apple, a toothbrush, a book on government — all you need for a night behind bars — John Lewis led them out of the church on a mission to change America.
President Bush and Mrs. Bush, Governor Bentley, Members of Congress, Mayor Evans, Reverend Strong, friends and fellow Americans:
There are places, and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided. Many are sites of war — Concord and Lexington, Appomattox and Gettysburg. Others are sites that symbolize the daring of America’s character — Independence Hall and Seneca Falls, Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral.
Selma is such a place.
In one afternoon fifty years ago, so much of our turbulent history — the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham, and the dream of a Baptist preacher — met on this bridge.
It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the meaning of America.
And because of men and women like John Lewis, Joseph Lowery, Hosea Williams, Amelia Boynton, Diane Nash, Ralph Abernathy, C.T. Vivian, Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. King, and so many more, the idea of a just America, a fair America, an inclusive America, a generous America — that idea ultimately triumphed.
As is true across the landscape of American history, we cannot examine this moment in isolation. The march on Selma was part of a broader campaign that spanned generations; the leaders that day part of a long line of heroes.
We gather here to celebrate them. We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof; men and women who despite the gush of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their North Star and keep marching toward justice.
They did as Scripture instructed: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” And in the days to come, they went back again and again. When the trumpet call sounded for more to join, the people came — black and white, young and old, Christian and Jew, waving the American flag and singing the same anthems full of faith and hope. A white newsman, Bill Plante, who covered the marches then and who is with us here today, quipped that the growing number of white people lowered the quality of the singing. To those who marched, though, those old gospel songs must have never sounded so sweet.
In time, their chorus would reach President Johnson. And he would send them protection, echoing their call for the nation and the world to hear:
“We shall overcome.”
What enormous faith these men and women had. Faith in God — but also faith in America.
The Americans who crossed this bridge were not physically imposing. But they gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of years of brutal violence, and countless daily indignities — but they didn’t seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them almost a century before.
The unemployment rate dropped in every single state during 2014—the first time that's happened in 30 years. ofa.bo/b3H3
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 05, 2025
US stocks close higher ahead of key jobs report: cnb.cx/1DPDCdB http://t.co/2vi0xN5Ng6
— (@CNBC) March 05, 2025
****
Michael Brown's family to file wrongful death lawsuit trib.al/EIYFdkI
— (@GuardianUS) March 05, 2025
#FergusonReport isn't just an isolated incident, it's a National epidemic. http://t.co/hn7yVgyF7C
— Path2Enlightenment (@Path2Enlighten) March 05, 2025
****
A quick synopsis of the #FergusonReport http://t.co/tTwVFrIrPV
— (@GrooveSDC) March 05, 2025
White supremacy is more afraid of black unity than black rage.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 05, 2025
****
#MyBrothersKeeper funds beat expectations by over $100 million usat.ly/1BMpMM8 via @USATODAY💰
— (@TriniPrincess) March 06, 2025
Getting support for mental health isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of strength: go.wh.gov/s1bv5H http://t.co/4IUlDe5hvA
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) March 05, 2025
****
****
Rochae Davis, arrested after police 'mistook her afro comb for a gun' bit.ly/1A17i5Z http://t.co/yxCD1ETow2
— (@nealcarter) March 05, 2025
Alabama electrical engineer sues police after being tased in his own home buff.ly/1DWgiNB http://t.co/5KVdOkcj38
— The Root (@TheRoot) March 05, 2025
****
President Andrew Jackson could be on his way off of the $20 bill » cnb.cx/1DW8TxK http://t.co/FhZmTmKtjV
— (@CNBC) March 05, 2025
African jawbone discovery pushes birth of humanity back by 400,000 years ind.pn/1M64Dha http://t.co/S2AlMkkjHE
— The Independent (@Independent) March 04, 2025
****
@smerconish over 15 police department under review. No, it's not an aberration. Racial bias in criminal justice system is still a problem.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) March 05, 2025
9 Egregious examples of racism in Ferguson uncovered by the Department Of Justice thkpr.gs/3629899 http://t.co/4f0JpNREIJ
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) March 05, 2025
****
Half the states in the country have passed laws making it harder to vote since 2011 thenat.in/1CBB7Ae #Selma50 http://t.co/liROnFUN7b
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) March 05, 2025
GOP leaders to skip Selma event: politi.co/1BUSQTx | AP Photo http://t.co/SyOb01vKrP
— POLITICO (@politico) March 05, 2025
****
Another reason I give libertarian dudebros the side eye. Their economic, social, cultural, and moral stances are sometimes vomit inducing. Rape is rape. Period
If you want to see what rape culture looks like, here you go. Brendan O’Neill defends sex without consent in @reason: pocket.co/sohs2x
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) March 05, 2025
Newspaper editorial pages from around the nation urge Supreme Court to uphold #Obamacare in #KingvBurwell: http://t.co/UoQzDbP9Av
— (@igorvolsky) March 04, 2025
****
Is anyone going to run against Hillary in the primary? Or are Dems just going to crown her queen and hope black ppl don’t remember 2008?
— Imani ABL (@AngryBlackLady) March 05, 2025
Because Dems need to figure out that a lot of black folks blame her for 7 years of birther bullshit. Good luck with that.
— Imani ABL (@AngryBlackLady) March 05, 2025
****
If you criticize the leader of Israel it means you hate Israel, say the Americans who hate America's leader.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) March 04, 2025
Reports say Jeb Bush is seeking the right campaign slogan but let's not all suggest 'Fool me 3 times' at once.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) March 05, 2025
****
New civil-rights crime drama from @AVAETC nabs @AnikaNoniRose as lead deadline.com/2015/03/anika-… http://t.co/omSFAeVW4q
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) March 04, 2025
Can we take a moment and admire how stunning Solange looks at Paris Fashion Week. 💕💕💕 http://t.co/hAXkMBiSC6
— Gem Jones (@Shugnice) March 05, 2025
****
McConnell Changes Course on Iran Vote nytimes.com/politics/first… http://t.co/C4AFLQW3JH
— Alan Rappeport (@arappeport) March 05, 2025
24 people suffer injuries after Delta flight skids off runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport. cnn.it/1FeyamM
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) March 05, 2025
****
379 employers file marriage equality brief — 101 more than fought DOMA at #SCOTUS. bzfd.it/1B8viZ4 http://t.co/QCXeOAjLm5
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 05, 2025
Date set for #SCOTUS arguments on same-sex marriage. chron.com/news/politics/… Audio will be posted later that day. #lgbt
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) March 05, 2025
****
Why Jakarta’s property boom isn’t a bubble » cnb.cx/1zM5ooP http://t.co/8IUi26BxUM
— (@CNBC) March 06, 2025
BREAKING: All 31 tested banks pass stress tests » cnb.cx/1BUO7B5
