I’ve been mistaken for waiter and valet, says Obama, describing experience of racism

He may be the US president now, but Barack Obama says he’s a black man who has been mistaken for the valet and a waiter, and he worries his daughters could face similar stereotyping.

“There’s no black male my age, who’s a professional, who hasn’t come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn’t hand them their car keys,” Obama told People magazine in an interview out Wednesday. That happened to him, he said.

First lady Michelle Obama said her husband also once was mistaken for a waiter at a black-tie party and asked for coffee. Her husband did not dispute the account. She said even when she went to Target as first lady, a fellow shopper asked her to get something from a shelf.

“I think people forget that we’ve lived in the White House for six years,” she said. “Before that, Barack Obama was a black man that lived on the South Side of Chicago, who had his share of troubles catching cabs.”

The first couple spoke about their experiences with racism amid protests nationwide over the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in State Island, New York. Mrs Obama said they have long talked to their girls about racism and the issues that have been raised in the wake of the two men’s deaths.

“These conversations aren’t new to us,” she said. “I mean, when you’re raising black kids you have to talk about these issues because they’re real.”