Michelle Obama says black voters not coming out for 2016 election 'slap in the face'
Michelle Obama, the former first lady, said it felt like a “slap in the face” that African-Americans did not turn out to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
Mrs Obama revealed she was saddened that her husband Barack’s legacy did not live on, in a preview of Becoming, a Netflix documentary about her life which is due to be released on Wednesday.
“It takes some energy to go high, and we were exhausted from it. Because when you are the first black anything…,” she said, speaking to a group of African-American schoolchildren in the clip. “A lot of our folks didn’t vote. It was almost like a slap in the face.
“I understand the people who voted for Trump,” she continued, speaking of the 2016 election which saw Donald Trump pit against Hillary Clinton. “The people who didn’t vote at all, the young people, the women, that’s when you think, man, people think this is a game.
“Every midterm. Every time Barack didn’t get the Congress he needed, that was because our folks didn’t show up. After all that work, they just couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. That’s my trauma.”
There is little direct criticism of Mr Obama's successor, Mr Trump, or the Republican Party, in the documentary, which focuses instead on Mrs Obama’s recent book tour.
Becoming was made by the Obamas’ new production arm, Higher Ground, and has the same name as Mrs Obama’s best-selling 2018 autobiography. Higher Ground’s first film, American Factory, won an Oscar earlier this year.
Mrs Obama, 56, the US's first black first lady, went on to say that many Americans “reacted with fear” when an African-American family entered the White House.
“When Barack was first elected, various commentators had naively declared that our country was entering a ‘post-racial era’ in which skin color would no longer matter,” she said. “Many were overlooking the racism and tribalism that was tearing our nation apart.”
She also revealed that she is glad to be out of the White House and hinted she has no plans for any political office in the future, despite rumours presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden might ask her to be his running mate.
“Now we’re out of the White House, not to be viewed, judged and parceled by every other person on the planet — yeah, it’s better, it’s absolutely freeing,’’ she said.
“Being the first lady has been the greatest honor of my life. But how many people are in that position where the entire attention of everything is you, every gesture you make, every blink of an eye is being analysed?"
