'Elitism on Full Display': Blaze Readers React to Michelle Obama’s Example of Racism in America — I Was Asked to Get Something Off the Shelf at Target

TheBlaze posted a story earlier this week about Michelle Obama’s experiences with racism. The first lady told People magazine that when she was in Target, a woman approached her and asked if she could help her take something off a shelf. “She didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new,” Obama said.

First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a hat and sunglasses, stands in line at a Target department store in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011, after doing some shopping. (Image source: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama also spoke about an incident in which the president was wearing a tuxedo at a black-tie event and someone asked him to get coffee. “It’s one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala,” President Obama said. “It’s another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress.”

Here's what some readers of TheBlaze had to say about the story:

barber2

Did it ever occur to Her Highness that it was her HEIGHT that occasioned this request, not her race ?! Dear God, these Obama people have some serious issues: Race Card 24/7/ 365.

AvengerK

I’m white and I’ve been asked “do you work here?” while in a store. Did racists ask me that?

Get over yourself Moochie.

Mojo-Man

Here is the problem: “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.”

Here is the truth: “There’s no 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.”

These things happen to everybody, but only blacks tend to take these things personally and attribute them to race. It’s very self-serving to do so.

vofr

I think this shows the content of her character, not the color of her skin.

gilleando

The same thing happens to me all of the time. I just tell them that I don’t work there but try to help them anyway.

My son is over 6 feet tall, and he’s always helping people he sees struggling to get something off a high shelf. It’s something polite tall people do. I told him that God didn’t give him height and strength for nothing, the least he can do is use it to help others.

Frankly, Michelle should have noticed if someone was having a problem and offered to help.

redfish53

I was asked just last night to get a can off the top shelf at the grocery store by an elderly black lady. She asked me very nicely and was very thankful afterword by even saying “bless you.” Heck, I didn’t even know I was supposed to be angry and oppressed.

termyt

“Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her.”

This was upsetting to her. Being identified as someone who might be able to help upset her and has her playing the race card.

So telling.

Silvertruth

Not racism. Rather elitism is on full display from our Imperial First Lady.

Blest

I don’t understand why that is racism. I’ve been asked that hundreds of times by people, always by women. Sometimes black women ask for help. I never thought it was racism or sexism. I just thought I always held myself in such a way as to exude a friendly, helpful presence.

When one sees the world through the eyes of racism, ’tis difficult to see anything else. Or as someone once put it, “When all you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail.”

UnderwaterMike

The Obamas interpret even the most innocuous comments and events through the race lens, because it’s all they know. They project their own biases onto everyone else.

companion

Isn’t it amazing after wasting years of tax payer money on extravagant vacations, parties, clothes, etc., how the Obamas suddenly look down on someone who actually needed their help for a change? This is a perfect example of how the “elite” think of themselves in relation to other Americans.