President Barack Obama took time away from his latest economy pivot to watch Lee Daniels’ The Butler, the new film chronicling the life of a beloved black servant in the White House.
The movie casts Forest Whitaker as a noble, hard-working butler who sees the evolution of racial relations in the country via a most unique vantage point. The film also paints President Ronald Reagan as a racially insensitive leader who coldly refused to support sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid system.
The film’s depiction of race-based discrimination and atrocities left the Commander in Chief teary eyed, according to an interview Obama gave to Politico.
I teared up just thinking about not just the butlers who have worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled, but because of Jim Crow, because of discrimination, there was only so far they could go,” he said. “And yet, with dignity and tenacity, they got up and worked every single day, and put up with a whole lot of mess because they hoped for something better for their kids.
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