Michelle Obama talks witnessing ‘white flight’ from Southside Chicago

Former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about how “white flight” impacted her community as a young, Black woman growing up on the Southside of Chicago.

During the third annual Obama Foundation Summit, Ms. Obama along with her older brother, Craig Robinson, opened up about witnessing whites leave their neighborhood in droves.

According to The Chicago Sun-Times, despite the fact that she was from a good, middle-class family, race was the motivating factor— something she said still persists today and is evidenced by how immigrants are treated.

READ MORE: Michelle Obama honored with ‘Caregiver Champion’ award

“As families like ours — upstanding families like ours who were doing everything we were supposed to do and better. As we moved in, white folks moved out because they were afraid of what our families represented,” the former First Lady said Tuesday in Chicago.

“I want to remind white folks that y’all were running from us… This family, with all the values that you read about; you were running from us. And, you’re still running because we’re no different than the immigrant families that are moving in,” she continued.

“The families that are coming from other places to try to do better. But, because we can so easily wash over who we really were — because of the color of our skin, because of the texture of our hair — that’s what divides countries, artificial things.”

“There were no gang fights, there were no territorial battles. Yet one-by-one, they packed their bags and they ran from us. And they left communities in shambles.”

Obama also addressed the “white flight” issue in her best-selling memoir, “Becoming.”

READ MORE: POLL: Michelle Obama would be Dem front-runner if she entered the 2020 race

During her session, Mrs. Obama discussed the plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and her Southside roots.

“Barack and I wouldn’t bring some crap up in our neighborhood,” she said about the center which will sit on 19.3 acres in the historic park, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Both of the Obamas have a life-long tie to Chicago with Mrs. Obama saying she is “South Side” by birth and former President Barack Obama is “South Side” by choice.”

The Summit was held on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.