The Obamas discussed their personal experiences with racial profiling during an interview with People Magazine.
“I think people forget that we’ve lived in the White House for six years,” the first lady told the publication. “Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs.”
In a 2008 piece for the Wall Street Journal, Susan Davis recounted a 2003 party both she and Obama attended, during which another guest told her he asked Obama to “fetch him a drink.”
“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,” the president said.
“He was wearing a tuxedo at a black-tie dinner,” recalled Michelle, “and somebody asked him to get coffee.”
The couple agreed the country has experienced progress in certain racial issues, but that there’s still a way to go.
“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.”