Sasha, Malia Obama joined summer BLM demonstrations, Barack says

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Former President Barack Obama says Malia and Sasha will be ‘active citizens,’ for their generation

Sasha and Malia Obama joined the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer and their father couldn’t be prouder.

Former President Barack Obama is promoting his new memoir, “A Promised Land,” and is the featured cover story on this week’s issue of People. He shared how Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19, felt “the need to participate” in marches against police brutality following the high-profile deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

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U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks with his daughters Sasha (L) and Malia during the annual turkey pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House November 25, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Obama, 59, explained that he did not have to give his daughters too much advice because they already knew what to do.

“They had a very clear sense of what was right and what was wrong and [of] their own agency and the power of their voice and the need to participate,” Obama said. “Malia and Sasha found their own ways to get involved with the demonstrations and activism that you saw with young people this summer, without any prompting from Michelle and myself, on their own initiative.”

“They didn’t do it in a way where they were looking for limelight,” he added. “They were very much in organizer mode.”

The 44th President of the United States explained that he was just another dad witnessing Sasha and Malia taking action on what they believed to be right.

“I could not have been prouder of them,” he said.

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In this 2015 photo, President Barack Obama buys ice cream for his daughters Malia (left) and Sasha at Pleasant Pops during Small Business Saturday in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images)

As theGrio reported, “A Promised Land” has become an immediate bestseller since its release last week. The tome, which he dedicated to his family sold almost 900,000 copies in one day. He and former First Lady Michelle Obama have remained visible since leaving the White House in January 2017 as they have written books, signed a production deal with Netflix, hosted podcasts, and encouraged voting in the recent election.

While Obama does not forsee his daughters entering the political fray he does believe they will be “active citizens,” and difference makers for their generation.

“I think they’re going to want to have an impact and their friends feel the same way. It’s interesting when you talk to them in groups, the degree to which, compared to young people when I was coming out of college or you know even 20 years ago, I think people were much more focused on their finances and the perks of a job,” he said.

“And these kids are really focused on — how can I do something that I find meaningful, that resonates with my values and my ideals? And that I think is an encouraging sign for the country.”

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The post Sasha, Malia Obama joined summer BLM demonstrations, Barack says appeared first on TheGrio.