In a recent interview for Time Magazine, President Barack Obama and ballerina Misty Copeland sat down with reporter Maya Rhodan for a discussion on a plethora of hot topics including race and gender. Throughout the meeting, the modern-day icons honestly expressed their thoughts while managing to motivate an entire generation.
It was beyond epic!
See excerpts from the interview below:
TIME: … You both represent the African American community. As the President of the United States, as a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater, do you ever think that – how does race come to play? Do you think that people still treat you differently because of race? Because you’re African American?
COPELAND: You know, my experience has been that a lot of what I’ve experienced has not always been to my face, or it’s been very subtle. But it’s in a way that I know what’s going on and I feel it deep inside of me. And I, being the only African American in almost every environment in terms of classical ballet, it weighs on you and it wears on you after a while.
And I feel like a lot of it as well is what I’m kind of putting on myself. And this just trying to not get too caught up and too wrapped up and too weighed down with being black and trying to just be the best person and the best dancer that I can be. And work, and work harder than, even if I see the person next to me that things may be a little bit easier for them, I’m going to try and push myself even harder than them. But I think that being African American has definitely been a huge obstacle for me. But it’s also allowed me to have this fire inside of me that I don’t know if I would have or have had if I weren’t in this field.
TIME: …I’m curious also what you make of social movements like Black Girl Magic, when there’s like these grassroots level reinforcement of these ideas that black is beautiful, in a sense?
OBAMA: Well social media obviously is the way in which young people are receiving information in general. So the power of young activists to help shape color and politics through things like Black Lives Matter, which I think is hugely important. And when I think about the journey I’ve traveled, there’s no doubt that young African America, Latino, Asian, LGBT youth, they have more role models. They have more folks that they can immediately identify with.
And that, in and of itself is of value. But what we also have to remember is that the barriers that exist for them to pursue their dreams are deep and structural. And so it is wonderful that the potential dancer can see Misty and say, I can do that. But if there’s no dance studio at all in their neighborhood, and if their schools don’t offer any extracurricular activities at all, or if their school is chronically underfunded, then it’s going to be a problem.
I hope that there are young men of color who are looking at me and saying, I can aspire to be the president, or a senator, or a community organizer and make change in my neighborhoods. But if they are locked out of opportunity, and in neighborhoods where even if I’m on television, there are no men in their neighborhoods who’ve got jobs that are able to support a family, then you’ve still got problems.
So I think culture, changing attitudes is hugely important. You know we’re for example trying to get more girls and women to study the stem subjects, math, science, engineering. Because they’re chronically under-represented. And in researching this we found out that for example, since CSI came on, and there are women who are doing forensic investigations, that the number of women who are in this field has skyrocketed, right. So some of it is just okay, I now picture myself as doing that. But I think it’s important for us to remember that it’s not just a matter of providing us a strong image, it’s also making sure that they’ve got good schools, making sure that they’re getting programs that allow them to explore all their talents. Making sure that the economy is working in a way that gives everybody a chance to succeed. It’s a both and rather than an either or proposition.
TIME: Looking back, was there anything that someone told either of you about race, or didn’t tell you about race that you wish they had or that you feel like you had to learn on your own? And how does that impact how you talk to young people today?
COPELAND: I feel like my mom pretty much covered everything with me. Being biracial she made it very clear to me that yes, you’re Italian and you’re German and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world and by society as a black woman and you should be prepared for that. I think that I, being very shy going into a setting where I was the only black woman, allowed me to observe more, rather than react.
And I think that saved me a lot. And it taught me a lot. And it has allowed me to, when I’m interacting with my mentees to say to them, you know, there are just ways that you have to approach situations that may be difficult or may not be fair, but it’s how you represent yourself. You may be carrying a responsibility that you don’t want, but it is what it is being African American and being in certain environments. It doesn’t matter if you’re a ballet dancer, if you’re an attorney, whatever it is you’re trying to do, you’re going to be faced with these obstacles.
TIME: And wrapping things up. What do you see as the single greatest fixable obstacle to the success of young people today?
OBAMA: Well, you know, I spend most of my time thinking about institutions. And there’s no doubt, even though it’s a cliché that the single biggest difference we can make is making sure that our kids get a good education. We can do a lot to keep the economy moving forward, we can do a lot to make sure that we’re enforcing our nondiscrimination laws. We can do a lot more to open up people’s perspective about who belongs where. And press to make sure that we have more women CEOs, and more African American film directors. And more Latino police officers. And all those things are important.
But the foundation that all this depends is making sure that on the front end, when these little babies are born and start to get curious about the world and are like sponges, that we are giving them the kind of education and the nurturing that they need. So that they’re off to a good start. And that involves an imaginative leap, a moral leap on the part of the society as a whole that says every kid should get a genuine opportunity and we’re willing to put money behind it, and we’re willing to invest in that to break cycles of poverty. And to reach out and pull kids up, even if they aren’t born into the best of circumstances. And that’s hard to do. Because we’re working off of a legacy of hundreds of years of discrimination that gets passed on generationally. If we could decide tomorrow that there was no discrimination, that we had some new drug that everybody took and suddenly nobody would be racially prejudiced. We still have a whole bunch of really poor kids who need help. And that still requires us making investments in them. And that means that all of us, the government, private sector, nonprofits, have to make some sacrifices so that those kids are getting an opportunity.
This interview was amazing! With the rise of so many controversial topics, it was refreshing to hear such inspirational words.
I highly recommend you check out the conversation in its entirety!
**Read the full transcript via Time here.
What are your thoughts?
Signing Out– Esmesha