Michelle Obama Says She Fears For Her Daughters Every Time They Get In A Car

“I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them,” she told Gayle King

Following a tumultuous year rife with Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and ruthless murders of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, Michelle Obama not only praised the BLM movement in a new interview with CBS This Morning, but she also opened up to co-host Gayle King about her two daughters — Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19 — and how she worries for them “every time they get in a car by themselves.”

Obama sat down with King for an interview that’ll air in full on Monday, during which she opened up about her daughters’ safety.

“I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them,” the former first lady said of her two Black daughters. “The fact that they are good students and polite girls but maybe they’re playing their music a little loud, maybe somebody sees the back of their head and makes an assumption.”

Obama continued to say that the innocent act of getting a driver’s license “puts fear” in the hearts of parents of Black children, including herself.

“I think we have to talk about it more, and we have to ask our fellow citizens to listen a bit more and to believe us and to know we don’t wanna be out there marchin’,” Obama said. “All those Black Lives Matter kids, they’d rather not have to worry about this. They’re taking to the streets because they have to. They’re trying to have people understand that we’re real folks, and the fear that so many of us have is so irrational, and it’s based on a history that is just sad and it’s dark and it’s time for us to move beyond that.”

Obama also explained to King why she and former POTUS and husband Barack Obama felt the need to speak out after a Minneapolis jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the murder of George Floyd last year.

At the time, the couple’s statement expressed that “true justice requires that we come to terms with the fact that Black Americans are treated differently, every day” and “requires us to recognize that millions of our friends, family, and fellow citizens live in fear that their next encounter with law enforcement could be their last.”

“We know that while we’re all breathing a sigh of relief over the verdict, there is still work to be done. We can’t sort of say, ’Great, that happened, let’s move on,’” Obama said during the CBS interview. “I know people in the Black community don’t feel that way because many of us still live in fear, as we go to the grocery store, or worry about … walking our dogs … or allowing our children to get a license.”