President Obama mistaken for a waiter at party
Published: 2013 July 20 14:37:51 (4967 Views)
President Obama spoke about the prejudice he has faced as an African-American man — prompting Wall Street Journal reporter Katie Rosman to recall witnessing Obama being mistaken for a waiter at a Manhattan soiree 10 years ago.
Calling discrimination against black men "inescapable," the President addressed the controversial acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case that has sparked massive outrage this week, surprising members of the press Friday during the White House briefing.
"There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. ..who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator."
In response to the President's deeply personal comments, the Wall Street Journal reporter reminded readers of an encounter with Obama in 2003, then a candidate for U.S. Senate, when he was mistaken for a waiter at a NYC gathering.
Some of the best and brightest of the New York literati attended the shindig, hosted by British journalist Tina Brown, to celebrate Sidney Blumenthal's book "The Clinton Wars," Rosman recounted in a 2008 blog posting entitled "Before He Was President."
Rosman noticed Obama "as awkward and out-of-place...one of a few black people in attendance" at the party.
Feeling awkward herself, Rosman struck up a conversation with the aspiring statesman, describing him as "charismatic in a quiet, solemn way."
As she left the party, one of the intellectual invitees, identified only as "an established author," asked about her conversation partner, admitting that he had asked Obama to "fetch him a drink" assuming the man wasn't a guest at the party.
"In less than six years, Obama has gone from being mistaken for a waiter among the New York media elite, to the president-elect. What a country," she commented.
In ironic twist, she also told readers that she had pitched a story to a magazine about the up-and-comer she met at the book party, though the magazine rejected a story on Obama.
Though Rosman first shared the experience on a 2008 WSJ blog, she retweeted the posting recounting the experience, simply writing "Obama was mistaken for a waiter at a book party at Tina Brown's in 2003. I was there."
Her message was retweeted over 270 times.
- NYdaily
Calling discrimination against black men "inescapable," the President addressed the controversial acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case that has sparked massive outrage this week, surprising members of the press Friday during the White House briefing.
"There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. ..who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator."
In response to the President's deeply personal comments, the Wall Street Journal reporter reminded readers of an encounter with Obama in 2003, then a candidate for U.S. Senate, when he was mistaken for a waiter at a NYC gathering.
Some of the best and brightest of the New York literati attended the shindig, hosted by British journalist Tina Brown, to celebrate Sidney Blumenthal's book "The Clinton Wars," Rosman recounted in a 2008 blog posting entitled "Before He Was President."
Rosman noticed Obama "as awkward and out-of-place...one of a few black people in attendance" at the party.
Feeling awkward herself, Rosman struck up a conversation with the aspiring statesman, describing him as "charismatic in a quiet, solemn way."
As she left the party, one of the intellectual invitees, identified only as "an established author," asked about her conversation partner, admitting that he had asked Obama to "fetch him a drink" assuming the man wasn't a guest at the party.
"In less than six years, Obama has gone from being mistaken for a waiter among the New York media elite, to the president-elect. What a country," she commented.
In ironic twist, she also told readers that she had pitched a story to a magazine about the up-and-comer she met at the book party, though the magazine rejected a story on Obama.
Though Rosman first shared the experience on a 2008 WSJ blog, she retweeted the posting recounting the experience, simply writing "Obama was mistaken for a waiter at a book party at Tina Brown's in 2003. I was there."
Her message was retweeted over 270 times.
- NYdaily
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