Peter Etienne, D95 Board Member:

“It happened to be the same law firm where Michelle Obama and Barack Obama worked. In fact, I was there when they were there. You’d go up to the elevator, the firm had several floors, so if I go up to a different floor than where I normally get in, the reception would kind of stop me and say, ‘Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir. What’s your name? And do you have a reason to be [here]?’ I remember that because I am sure they didn’t say that to the two or three [white] people that walked in front of me,” Etienne said. “You go to Walmart, you go to Costco, people notice you and they remember you more. Now, that’s pressure in a way and that’s stress for better or for worse. I think most people don’t have to think about that because they’re like everybody else. But it is the same as when you’re in school. When you sit there and people are talking about Martin Luther King, they just look at you because you stand out. For some reason, they think, ‘Oh, it’s your guy.’ It’s not just my guy. He’s everybody’s guy. He’s an American, just like any other American. And it goes [both ways]. As a minority, we need to learn to assume noble intent. I assume noble intent that people mean noble things, unless they give me a reason that proves otherwise. So I try not to brush every white person with the same brush. Most of them have no big problems with minorities. I think that’s kind of important.”