Despite their position in the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama have been known to describe the racial hardships they have had to face. Time and time again, they’ve used public speaking engagements to offer their views on racial bias in America.
“Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs,” Michelle told People magazine in an interview. She went on to describe a particular instance when Barack was wearing a tuxedo at a black-tie dinner and was asked to bring coffee to a guest.
President Obama himself has described incidents of being mistaken for the help—more specifically, a valet.
“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 said in an interview.
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