On April 5, the first lady of the United States gave one of her most important speeches since her emergence as a contemporary political and cultural figure. Her audience, a cohort of talented, driven and influential black women and black girls gathered for the annual Black Girls Rock! Awards show.
The glamorous event is arguably the most highly publicized branch of the relatively young national Black Girls Rock! program, which uses empowerment, mentorship, scholarship and community involvement as tools to send the positive message to black girls that they do, in fact, matter. Still, few outside of the black community are aware that such an important and powerful movement exists, and some of those that are aware find it — and FLOTUS’s support of it — highly controversial.