Obamas recall sting of racial bias

President, first lady worry daughters still to face prejudices

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, attend the first of two Hanukkah receptions held Wednesday at the White House.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, attend the first of two Hanukkah receptions held Wednesday at the White House.

WASHINGTON -- Though he is president now, Barack Obama said that in the past he has been mistaken for a valet, and he worries his daughters also could face stereotypes.

"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," Obama told People magazine in an interview released Wednesday. That happened to him, he said.

First lady Michelle Obama said her husband also once was mistaken for a waiter at a black-tie party and asked for coffee. She said that even when she went to a Target store as first lady, a fellow shopper asked her to get something from a shelf.

"I think people forget that we've lived in the White House for six years," she said. "Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs."

The first couple spoke about their experiences with racial bias after nationwide protests over the deaths of two black men at the hands of white police officers: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.

Michelle Obama said she and her husband have long talked to their girls about racial intolerance and have discussed the issues that have been raised since the two men's deaths.

"These conversations aren't new to us," she said. "I mean, when you're raising black kids you have to talk about these issues because they're real."

The president said his daughters have grown up in a time of enormous progress and take for granted that it makes no sense to treat someone differently for his race, sexual orientation or disability. He said he and the first lady remind them that prejudices are still there and that they should reflect on any hidden biases they may have, including about themselves as black girls.

"We don't want them to be constrained by any of these stereotypes," he said.

"So when something like Ferguson or the Trayvon Martin case happens, around the dinner table we're pointing out to them that too often in our society, black boys are still perceived as more dangerous or riskier, they get less benefit of the doubt, and that it will be part of their task, their generation's task, to continue to try to eradicate some of those old stereotypes," Obama said.

The president said that although racial relations have gotten better, more progress is needed.

"The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing compared to what a previous generation experienced," 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."

A Section on 12/18/2014

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