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With her focus on nutritious foods and making sure access to them was expanded to all children in the nation during her time in the White House, former first lady Michelle Obama is asking some serious questions now that President Donald Trump has moved to go backwards on efforts designed to promote healthier school lunches and reduce childhood obesity.
"You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
--former First Lady Michelle ObamaJust months after former president Barack Obama left office, as Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the Trump administration issued orders that weakened standards set by the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act," which Ms. Obama championed and her husband signed into law in 2010.
The Obama-era statute repealed by Trump had set guidelines and added funding that would push schools to reduce levels of sodium and fats in lunches served at the nation's public school while incentivizing more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthier dairy products by offering federal funds to districts that could meet the more nutritious standards.
The move was decried by education and childhood health experts at the time and speaking on the issue for the first time publicly on the subject, at a conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Obama also took issue with Trump's decision and said parents should not tolerate such callous disregard for the nation's young people. Though she did not specifically mention the new president by name she said any lawmaker who would push such policies had some explaining to do.
"This is where you really have to look at motives, you know," she said. "You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
"If someone is doing that," Obama added, "they don't care about your kid. And we need to demand everyone to care deeply about our kids."
Watch:
According to reports, Obama's comments resulted in "cheers and applause" from those in attendance.
"We gotta make sure we don't let anybody take us back," Obama said to further applause. "Every elected official on this planet should understand: Don't play with our children. Don't do it."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
With her focus on nutritious foods and making sure access to them was expanded to all children in the nation during her time in the White House, former first lady Michelle Obama is asking some serious questions now that President Donald Trump has moved to go backwards on efforts designed to promote healthier school lunches and reduce childhood obesity.
"You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
--former First Lady Michelle ObamaJust months after former president Barack Obama left office, as Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the Trump administration issued orders that weakened standards set by the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act," which Ms. Obama championed and her husband signed into law in 2010.
The Obama-era statute repealed by Trump had set guidelines and added funding that would push schools to reduce levels of sodium and fats in lunches served at the nation's public school while incentivizing more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthier dairy products by offering federal funds to districts that could meet the more nutritious standards.
The move was decried by education and childhood health experts at the time and speaking on the issue for the first time publicly on the subject, at a conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Obama also took issue with Trump's decision and said parents should not tolerate such callous disregard for the nation's young people. Though she did not specifically mention the new president by name she said any lawmaker who would push such policies had some explaining to do.
"This is where you really have to look at motives, you know," she said. "You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
"If someone is doing that," Obama added, "they don't care about your kid. And we need to demand everyone to care deeply about our kids."
Watch:
According to reports, Obama's comments resulted in "cheers and applause" from those in attendance.
"We gotta make sure we don't let anybody take us back," Obama said to further applause. "Every elected official on this planet should understand: Don't play with our children. Don't do it."
With her focus on nutritious foods and making sure access to them was expanded to all children in the nation during her time in the White House, former first lady Michelle Obama is asking some serious questions now that President Donald Trump has moved to go backwards on efforts designed to promote healthier school lunches and reduce childhood obesity.
"You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
--former First Lady Michelle ObamaJust months after former president Barack Obama left office, as Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the Trump administration issued orders that weakened standards set by the "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act," which Ms. Obama championed and her husband signed into law in 2010.
The Obama-era statute repealed by Trump had set guidelines and added funding that would push schools to reduce levels of sodium and fats in lunches served at the nation's public school while incentivizing more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthier dairy products by offering federal funds to districts that could meet the more nutritious standards.
The move was decried by education and childhood health experts at the time and speaking on the issue for the first time publicly on the subject, at a conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Obama also took issue with Trump's decision and said parents should not tolerate such callous disregard for the nation's young people. Though she did not specifically mention the new president by name she said any lawmaker who would push such policies had some explaining to do.
"This is where you really have to look at motives, you know," she said. "You have to stop and think: why don't you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you?"
"If someone is doing that," Obama added, "they don't care about your kid. And we need to demand everyone to care deeply about our kids."
Watch:
According to reports, Obama's comments resulted in "cheers and applause" from those in attendance.
"We gotta make sure we don't let anybody take us back," Obama said to further applause. "Every elected official on this planet should understand: Don't play with our children. Don't do it."