In a recent interview with PEOPLE magazine the Obamas used the
opportunity to let us remember they've only been in the white house
for six years. This means they've faced their own fair share of racism
in the US. Here are some excerpts:
"I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that
wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised,
the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked
me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn't see me
as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those
kinds of things happen in life. So it isn't anything new."
"There's no black male my age, who's a professional, who hasn't come
out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn't
hand them their car keys," said the president, adding that, yes, it
had happened to him.
Mrs. Obama recalled another incident: "He was wearing a tuxedo at a
black-tie dinner, and somebody asked him to get coffee."
Things have gotten better, both Obamas agreed, but there's still more
progress to be made.
"The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing
compared to what a previous generation experienced," President Obama
said. "It's one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala.
It's another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be
handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and
is dressed the way teenagers dress."
Hmm...
