I missed this last week, but former first lady Michelle Obama made quite the allegation. In an episode of her podcast, Mrs. Obama claimed that "white America" behaves as though black women don't exist. She shared a few anecdotes as evidence.
“When I’ve been completely incognito, during the eight years in the White House, walking the dogs on the canal, people will come up and pet my dogs, but will not look me in the eye," Obama said on “The Michelle Obama Podcast.” "They don’t know it’s me."
“What white folks don’t understand, it’s like that is so telling of how white America views people who are not like them. You know, we don’t exist. And when we do exist, we exist as a threat. And that, that’s exhausting."
Mrs. Obama then recalled another instance when she and a few friends stopped for ice cream, and a white woman cut in front of them. She “didn’t apologize, she never looked me in my eye, she didn’t know it was me," Obama said. "All she saw was a black person, or a group of black people, or maybe she didn’t even see that. Because we were that invisible.”
Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell did not accept her narrative, again which appeared to be based on a few anecdotes, and he presented a counter point. Perhaps Mrs. Obama can consider the fact that it was President Trump who sympathized with Alice Johnson, and not President Obama?
. @realDonaldTrump saw Alice Johnson. @BarackObama didn’t see Alice Johnson. https://t.co/71odJI5j85
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 1, 2020
Johnson was serving a life in prison for a first time, nonviolent drug offense, when Kim Kardashian learned of her situation and presented it to President Trump. He was moved and commuted the rest of her sentence. She shared her story at last month's Republican National Convention. Then, just last week, he called her to the White House to grant her a full pardon.
In fact, Johnson was one of several black speakers at the RNC. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only black Republican senator in Congress, closed the first night of the convention explaining that America is a land of opportunity.
Michelle Obama's controversial take on her podcast isn't the first time she's faced criticism for her negative view of Americans. In 2008, after her husband's presidential campaign had really taken off, she said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country."