WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michelle Obama called on African leaders to educate girls in their countries and to treat women as “equals.”

Obama told 500 Africans on a six-week study program, “The blood of Africa runs through my veins, and I care deeply.”

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Reuters reports:

First lady Michelle Obama embraced her family’s African roots in a speech on Wednesday, telling a group of young Africans that the “blood of Africa” runs through her veins as she urged changing traditional beliefs on the worth of educating women.

Her husband had shied away from discussing his African heritage in his own remarks to the 500 Africans finishing a six-week Washington leadership fellowship on Monday, referencing his Kenyan father only once and in the question-and-answer session. But Michelle Obama said as an African American woman, her discussion with the African youth was “deeply personal.”

“The roots of my family tree are in Africa,” the first lady told the cheering crowd. “My husband’s father was born and raised in Kenya. Members of our extended family still live there. I have had the pleasure of traveling to Africa many times over the years, including four trips as first lady, and I have brought my mother and my daughters along whenever I can.”

The news service reports, “She said men worldwide needed to ‘look into their hearts and souls and ask if they truly view women as their equals.'”

Obama’s words are less telling than her actions.

MusicTimes.com reports the First Lady and her daughters attended a Jay-Z concert while they were recently in Chicago.

Time.com reported in 2012 “109 out of 217” of Jay-Z’s songs contain the word “Bitch.”

He has a song called “Bitches and Sisters” on The Blueprint II: The Gift and the Curse and his Watch the Throne collaboration with Kanye West contains a track called “That’s My Bitch,” on which Jay-Z talks affectionately about his wife, Beyoncé (and then immediately refers to her as his bitch).

That is an example for men to follow?

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The Weekly Standard reported earlier this year that despite employing only two men, she paid them 46 percent more than her female staffers.

Perhaps before lecturing the African leaders about what they should do, she should practice what she preaches.

And is it too much to ask to expect a First Lady of the United States to have the “blood of America” flowing through her veins?