Monday on CBS’s “This Morning,” former first lady Michelle Obama commented on the statement she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, released in reaction to the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial for the death of George Floyd.
Obama told host Gayle King that despite justice being brought in the trial, “there’s still work to be done” because black people still fear what could happen to them while walking their dogs or going to the grocery store.
Partial transcript as follows:
KING: You know, after the Derek Chauvin verdict, you and Barack released a statement that I thought was very powerful. You all felt the need to speak out. You don’t often speak out, the two of you together.
OBAMA: The goal is to let leaders lead, but in certain times, people look to us, what do you think, how do you feel? And we know that while we’re all breathing a sigh of relief over the verdict, there’s still work to be done.
KING: Yes.
OBAMA: And so we can’t sort of say, great, that happened, let’s move on. I know that people in the black community don’t feel that way because … many of us live in fear as we go to the grocery store or worry about —
KING: Walking our dogs.
OBAMA: Walking our dogs, or allowing our children to get a license.
In the same interview, Obama voiced her concern for the treatment her daughters might get in the real world just because of the color of their skin.
“They’re driving,” she said. “But every time they get in a car by themselves, I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them — the fact that they are good students and polite girls, but maybe they’re playing their music a little loud, maybe somebody sees the back of their head and makes an assumption. I, like so many parents of black kids, have to — the innocent act of getting a license puts fear in our hearts.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.