Category Archives: First Ladies in the Faith Based Community

Wives of Pastors, who are making the difference in the lives of individuals who share the word of God.

Oakland’s Youth Radio Recognized by Michelle Obama

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Youth Radio’s Nishat Kurwa and Shyra Gums join Michelle Obama at the awards ceremony.

Oakland’s Youth Radio, a youth-driven journalism and media production program, received a special honor on Monday from Michelle Obama.
The First Lady presented the organization with the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, noting Youth Radio’s effectiveness in developing learning and life skills in young people by engaging them in the arts. The award is the highest honor for afterschool arts and humanities programs.
“In spite of all the challenges and obstacles our young people face, in spite of all their fears and doubts, you teach them to make art anyway,” said Mrs. Obama at the ceremony. “You teach them that no matter what life throws their way, if they draw back on their own talent, creativity and courage; if they’re persistent and tenacious and bold, then they can truly make something extraordinary out of their lives.”
Youth Radio produces original writing, audio photo and video content by journalists between the ages of 14 and 24. Recent articles have included “Young People Campaign for Peace In East Oakland,” “Digital Strategists Look Back On Months Of Targeting Voters” and “Why Everyone Got the Youth Vote Wrong.”
Youth Radio Senior Producer Nishat Kurwa and 17-year-old high school senior Shyra Gums accepted the award at a ceremony at the White House.
“I came to Youth Radio to learn about music and media production,” said Gums in a release about the honor. “But during the past two years, I’ve gained the skills that have put me on a path to success. Youth Radio has helped me grow as a leader and as an artist  and has given me once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”
“It is so critical that we preserve arts education in our schools because we know how important it is for our children’s development,” said the First Lady. “Because we know that, ultimately, arts education doesn’t just teach our children valuable skills. It doesn’t just give them an important forum for self-expression and self-reflection. It also helps to shape their character.”
For information go to www.youthradio.org/

Barack Obama, World’s Choice for President

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President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden acknowledge the crowd at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Chicago. President Obama defeated Republican challenger former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster).

Victory party at Showin’ Out Hair Gallery, 3717 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland on Election Day as family and friends showed support for President Obama. Pictured, from left to right, (front row) Owner LuTillian Hudson, stylist Camille Long, and Post reporter Ashley Chambers; (back row) stylist Rodney Griffin, barber Damon Mitchell, and stylist Michael Beale, Sr. Photo by Marquis Beale.

Associated Press

He won, and the word “phew” trended worldwide on Twitter. Despite a hard-fought campaign in the United States, there was never any contest overseas.
Gone are the days when President Obama was seen as a youthful, messianic figure capable of magically curing the world’s woes. But he remains widely popular, and his triumph reassured many who feared an abrupt change in U.S. policy could spell trouble.
Even Tom McGrath, president of Republicans Abroad France, conceded: “It’s clear that if they could vote, Europe would vote 80 percent for Obama.”
Part of the reason is continuity. Challenger Mitt Romney is a little-known figure internationally with scant foreign policy experience, while Obama was seen — even by most critics — as a steady hand following a predictable course.
If he hasn’t brought peace to the world’s fire zones, or done much to slow climate change, or sparked global economic growth, he is credited at least with having started no new wars, and having tried to heal relations with the Muslim world even while aggressively pursuing al-Qaida and its affiliates.
“I think it is good that Obama won,” said Pawel Kukiela, a 30-year-old company consultant in Poland, one of the few countries around the world where Romney has sizeable support. “He has a good program and I think it will be much better for Obama to continue what he has started.”
A BBC survey during the run-up to the election found remarkable support for an Obama second term. More than 21,000 people in 21 countries were questioned in July, August and September, with residents in all but one country backing Obama.
Only Pakistan, where Obama’s heavy reliance on drone strikes has been unpopular, preferred Romney.
An Iraqi army officer in the capital, Baghdad, praised Obama for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and planning to do the same in Afghanistan.
“These show that Obama differs from other American presidents in his foreign policy,” said the officer, who gave his name as Abu Hussein.
Praise for Obama was not universal. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said Muslims should not express happiness about Obama’s victory.
But the list of countries with a strong Obama preference in the BBC survey were as diverse as Nigeria, Panama, South Korea, Germany and Brazil.
A separate French poll showed broad support for Obama — even from those who identified themselves as supporters of the French far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Jocelyne de Letrain, 60, was among Parisians who cheered Obama’s win.
“I don’t think that Europe would have had a good relationship with Mitt Romney,” she said. “It would have been two different points of views, two different planets.”

County Joins Michelle Obama to Fight Childhood Obesity

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Alameda County on Wednesday became one of the first counties in California to sign on with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to fight childhood obesity.
County officials joined representatives of Oakland-based Revolution Foods at a local school to publicize the new initiative focusing on healthier food choices and exercise as the keys to wiping out the epidemic of childhood obesity.
“We are thrilled to be one of the first counties in the state to adopt the First Lady’s campaign,’’ County Supervisor Keith Carson said in a conversation with students and faculty at Oakland’s Lighthouse Community Charter School.
“I look forward to enlisting leaders from California’s 57 other counties to develop a state-wide approach to providing children with greater access to healthy food choices,” he said.
At the event, children worked with the staff of Revolution Foods to make healthy fruit snacks during the school lunch hour.
Alameda County is partnering with Revolution Foods, a company that showcases healthy food choices in serving more than 600 school lunchrooms and more than 120,000 school meals across the country each day.
Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative that was launched by Michelle Obama in 2010 and is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and better equipped to pursue their dreams.

Obama Marks 9/11Anniversary

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President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and White House staffers observed a moment of silence Tuesday on the White House south lawn in memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

By Olivier Knox,
Yahoo! News

The mournful tones of “Taps” were heard on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama led America in a silent tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Obamas walked somberly out of the residence of the White House and, flanked by hundreds of staff, bowed their heads at 8:46 a.m.—11 years after American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center..
“This is never an easy day,” the president told an audience of active-duty service members, families of those killed and others, speaking at a ceremony held at the Pentagon.
“But it is especially difficult for all of you, the families of nearly 3,000 innocents who lost their lives—your mothers and fathers, your husbands and wives, your sons and your daughters. They were taken from us suddenly and far too soon,” he said.
“As painful as this day is and always will be, it leaves us with a lesson that no single event can ever destroy who we are. No act of terrorism can ever change what we stand for. Instead, we recommit ourselves to the values that we believe in, holding firmly without wavering to the hope that we confess,” he said.