Flashback: Michelle Previously Described ‘Racist’ Target Experience as ‘Good’
In a recent interview with People Magazine titled "The Obamas: How We Deal with Our Own Racist Experiences," the president and First Lady describe encounters they've had they believe are racist in nature.
The First Lady's offering dealt with an experience at Target.
"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," Michelle Obama told People. "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."
The only problem is, she's told this story before. In earlier tellings -- such as her appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, posted above -- the First Lady describes this simply as an issue where the fellow Target customer didn't recognize her, and asked for a favor reaching for something off the top shelf. There was no racial subtext whatsoever. In fact, she described the encounter as making her "feel good."
OBAMA: “That’s my Target run! I went to Target. I thought I was undercover! I have to tell you something about this trip tough.”
LETTERMAN: “Uh-huh.”
OBAMA: “No one knew that was me because a woman actually walked up to me, right. I was in the detergent aisle. And she said — I kid you not — she said, ‘Excuse me, I just have to ask you something.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, cover is blown.’ She said, ‘Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?’ I kid you not! (Applause) And the only thing she said, I reached up because she was short, and I reached up and pulled it down, and she said, ‘Well, you didn’t have to make it look so easy!’ That was my interaction. I felt so good.”
LETTERMAN: “She had no idea —“
OBAMA: “She had no idea who I was. I thought as soon as she walked up, I looked — I was with my assistant, and I said, ‘This is it. It’s over. We’re going to have to leave.’ She just needed the detergent!” (Laughter)
Take a look.
