00:00Looking back, was there anything that someone told either of you about race or didn't tell
00:09you about race that you wish they had or that you felt like you had to learn on your own? And
00:13how does that impact how you talk to young people today? I feel like my mom pretty much covered
00:21everything with me. You know, being biracial, she made it very clear to me that, yes, you are
00:29Italian and you are German and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world and by
00:34society as a black woman and you should be prepared for that. I think that I, being very shy, going into
00:46a setting where I was the only black woman, allowed me to observe more rather than react. And I think
00:54that saved me a lot and it taught me a lot. And it has allowed me to, when I'm interacting with my
01:01mentees, to say to them, you know, there are just ways that you have to approach situations that may
01:09be difficult or may not be fair, but it's how you represent yourself. You may be, you know, carrying
01:17a responsibility that you don't want, but it is what it is being African-American and being in certain
01:23environments. It doesn't matter if you're a ballet dancer, if you're an attorney, you know, whatever
01:28it is you're trying to do, you're going to be faced with these obstacles. You know, I think about this
01:37now as a parent, Michelle and I, you know, I have a lot of conversations around the dinner table.
01:41And for me, what I always try to transmit to my kids is that issues of race, discrimination,
01:56tragic history of slavery and Jim Crow, all those things are real and you have to understand them
02:04and you have to be knowledgeable about them and recognize that they didn't stop overnight. Certainly
02:14not just when I was elected. I remember people talking about how somehow this was going to solve
02:19all our racial problems and I wasn't one of those who subscribed to that notion. And, and that, but,
02:28but what I want them to draw from it is a sense of justice for everybody. My view is, is that the
02:35strength of having been a minority on the receiving end of discrimination is that it should make you
02:45that much more attuned and empathetic towards anybody who's vulnerable, towards anybody who's being
02:51locked down. Uh, so, you know, what I say to my kids is, is, is, is use this as, as a, uh, uh, something
02:59that, that provides you a particular power, uh, uh, to, to be willing to fight on behalf of, uh, what you think
03:08is right. Um, and that includes thinking about and, uh, uh, being concerned with the struggles that
03:21uh, whites have in this society as well. Um, you know, part of what I think is sometimes difficult,
03:32uh, but I think absolutely necessary for black activists like those who are, uh, you know, engaging
03:41in, in, uh, some of the protests around Ferguson, et cetera, is to try to also get yourself in the
03:47mindset of a police officer who is scared and who is, uh, trying to figure out how to navigate,
03:58uh, uh, you know, uh, a really challenging job and wants to get home safe and may make a split
04:06second decision and how are they being trained and are they being provided enough guidance from their
04:14bosses that will steer them in a better direction rather than the worst direction. That's hard to do
04:19because it's easier to just kind of say, be angry and, and frustrated. And, you know, part of what I
04:26think successful social movements have involved is, uh, having a, a certain righteous anger about
04:34injustices being done to you, but also understanding that, um, you know, the people who are on the other
04:41side of this, uh, they've got their own history and their own circumstances and you have to understand
04:45that and you have to, um, you know, recognize that, uh, each of us has some good and some bad in us.
04:53And, uh, and that they're not, that's not an excuse, but it, what it does do is it gives us an
05:01opportunity then to have a conversation and to reach across, uh, uh, the divide. Um, and that's,
05:07that's not something that always, um, at, at a time when so much of
05:15communications is sound bites and tweets and, uh, cable news, uh, it's, it's hard to have that kind
05:22of conversation. It's easier, I think, to just make everything very black and white. Um, but I think
05:29that when you look at how social change has happened throughout history, including in our country,
05:37it's, it's been because we can project ourselves into the circumstances of other people. And, uh,
05:44and hopefully that's something that Malia and Sasha and her generation is, uh, is picking up on.
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