Statement about racist “meme”

Today (February 6th) was a day of joy, vision, and creative love at the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition

MDRC staff came together from across the state and remotely for a full day dreaming session about what it means to raise funds for our organization in ways that align with our mission, vision, and values. This day was coordinated and led by our amazing Director of Leadership Programs, and it was powerful. Some staff left their homes before 7 a.m. Every single person showed up with their whole self and shared their commitment to our mission: to cultivate disability pride and strengthen the disability movement by recognizing disability as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity while collaborating to dismantle all forms of oppression.

We worked all day. Many of us got home late. And then we saw the news.

President Trump shared a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama, the first Black president and first lady in our nation’s history, as apes. This is racism. We are going to call it what it is.

Depicting Black people as apes is a tool of dehumanization that was used to justify slavery, lynching, and Jim Crow. It is white supremacy. It has always been white supremacy. And it does not become something else because it was posted as a “meme” or blamed on a staffer.

MDRC exists to dismantle all forms of oppression.

In 2026, the President of the United States shared content rooted in hate. I am so sorry for the pain that white supremacy causes our community, our children, and the people I love and work alongside every day. To my staff who gave everything they had today building something beautiful and then came home to this: I see you. I am grateful for you. I am committed to you.

While racism has been embedded in policy, in public comments, in executive orders, in the very structure of our systems, today’s act was not subtle. It was not hidden in policy language. It was not buried in a budget line. There is not an adult in America today who does not know that this is racism. The only people who might not understand what they saw are very young children. And our children deserve better. They deserve better from the adults who love them. From the adults who are planning their futures. From the leaders who are supposed to be building the world they will inherit.

MDRC spent today dreaming about the future. About how we raise the resources to do this work in ways that honor our values. About how we show up with integrity. Our staff poured themselves into that vision all day long because they believe in a world where people with disabilities are valued as essential and vital members of the community, where everyone can be their full selves, in all their identities, in all aspects of their lives.

And then we came home to a reminder of exactly why this work matters. Why dismantling all forms of oppression is not optional. Why solidarity is not a talking point. It is the work.

We are against white supremacy in all its forms, whether it shows up as a policy, a budget cut, an executive order, or a video posted in the middle of the night and blamed on a staffer by morning.

In solidarity,

Theresa Metzmaker, CEO

Michigan Disability Rights Coalition

MDRC cultivates disability pride and strengthens the disability movement by recognizing disability as a natural and beautiful part of human diversity while collaborating to dismantle all forms of oppression.