maya anglou knows who i am and she s rooting for me. i can do this. that s really true for us all. because in so many ways, maya angelou knew us. she knew our hope, our pain, our ambition, our fear, our pain, our shame. she assured us that despite it all, in fact, because of it all, we were good. and in doing so, she paved the way for me and oprah and so many others just to be our good old black woman selves. she showed us. she showed us that eventually, if we stayed true to who we are, then the world would embrace us.
[ applause ] and she did this not just for black women but for all women. for all human beings. she taught us all that it is okay to be your regular old self, whatever that is. your poor self. your broken self. your brilliant bold phenomenal self. that was maya angelou s reach. she touched me. she touched all of you. she touched people all across the globe. including a young white woman from kansas. who named her daughter after maya and raised her son to be the first black president of the united states. [ applause ]
women who were surviving horrific sexual violence, to sponsor them, to begin to find confidence, find their voice, rebuild their lives and create a network so that they could begin to heal and do more. and the challenge that we have, the challenge we have is that the lack of political attention to holding accountable things we can do to prevent violence, integrate the evidence-based things we know from the field, we know what to do. we have a lot more coming up. up next, a gripping documentary about a very difficult story, but one you simply cannot turn away from, and we re still awaiting the first lady at the memorial service for dr. maya angelou. we ll be right back. why? it s such a touchy issue. i believe that if it had come sooner maybe it would have made a difference but because of the secret they were trying to keep
[ applause ] and today, as first lady, whenever the term authentic is used to describe me, i take it as a tremendous compliment, because i know that i am following in the footsteps of great women like maya angelou. but really i am just a beginner. i am baby authentic. maya angelou, now she was the original. she was the master. for at a time when there were such stifling constraints on how black women could exist in the
yes, i will i will miss her. stedman, gayle and i recently came to visit and just sit and be with her. and when i walked into the room, her eyes lit up and she greeted me as she always did in person or on the phone, and she said, hello, you darling girl. she d taken a liking to the ipad i gave her, and i loved that all of her notes began with oh deario and ended with love, ma, maya angelou. when her mother, vivian baxter, told her at age 17, you know, baby, you may be one of the greatest women i ve ever known, she didn t know that she was prophecying what we all know to be true. maya angelou is the greatest woman i have ever known. [ applause ]