A program championed by Michelle Obama called “Let Girls Learn” has effectively been cancelled by the Trump administration. The program was an inter-governmental cooperative that helped under-privileged women and girls get the education that they needed to remain competitive in the world. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Transcript:
The Trump administration was all set to get rid of a program called Let Girls Learn. Now, this is an initiative created and championed by both Michelle and Barack Obama in 2015 that basically had the Peace Corps go around the world and help bolster the educational opportunities and educational tools available for young women all over the world. Donald Trump on Monday, his administration, sent a memo out to Peace Corps saying you’re no longer going to do this program. It’s over. Now, that didn’t necessarily mean that the Peace Corps was going to give up all of their tools, I guess, to help young women across the world get better education, but it did mean that they were no longer allowed to use the phrase, use the program, Let Girls Learn, which is what Michelle and Barack Obama had created. Basically, the Trump administration was trying to deliver a very big blow, a very big slap in the face, to Michelle Obama. She championed this program and they were taking it away, at least the name.
Now after a little bit of public backlash, the Trump administration said we have no idea what you’re talking about. We never sent this memo to the Peace Corps that CNN displayed on their website, so yeah, you did. Nonetheless, they’ve said that no, no, no, we’re not ending that program. We’re not changing the name. We’re going to keep doing it for now.
The bottom line is that the Trump administration, right now, is trying to spite Michelle Obama and they’re doing it at the expense of young women and girls all over the world. They’re trying to take away educational opportunities for people’s daughters in developing countries, girls who don’t have those opportunities presented to them in their own countries without some kind of outside help. We’re trying to give them the opportunity to become equal or better, to raise these developing countries to where they’re developed countries. That’s the point of these educational programs that Michelle Obama has been championing for years.
On top of that, the Trump administration also announced that they’re going to try to phase out Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunch initiative thing. They haven’t specifically said what nutritional guidelines they’re going to go with, what they’re going to continue, but we don’t want anything that Michelle Obama was involved in to still be a thing today. That’s what’s happening in Washington, D.C. This isn’t about spiting Barack Obama, it’s about spiting Michelle Obama. Why? Because she was one of the most powerful and influential first women that we have ever had in this country. I know some people would say it was Hillary. I firmly disagree. Michelle Obama was out there. She was a face of this administration, she was working on these programs, she was getting kids active. Letting them eat healthy lunches, teaching them about nutrition, being involved, and occasionally being the cool, hip mom that everybody wanted growing up. They’re trying to take that away from her.
The right wing media did nothing for eight years other than insult and demean Michelle Obama because they didn’t want to eat healthy, they didn’t want to get active and get their asses off the couch. That’s why they hate her. But more importantly, they hate her because she’s a black woman. A powerful, strong, intelligent, black woman. That is why Donald Trump and his administration and every Republican in Washington, D.C., is trying to undermine everything that she accomplished in eight years as the First Lady of the United States.
