Mrs Obama: Some give her 'angry black woman' image

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama is challenging assertions she has forcefully imposed her will on White House aides and says people have inaccurately tried to portray her as "some kind of angry black woman."

Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she has not read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama's top advisers.

"I never read these books," she told CBS's Gayle King in an interview broadcast Wednesday. "So I've just gotten in the habit of not reading other people's impressions of people."

In the book, Mrs. Obama is said to have occasionally bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life in the White House.

In the interview, Mrs. Obama said, "I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one."

"Now there are challenges," she added. "If there's any anxiety that I feel, it's because I want to make sure that my girls (Malia and Sasha) come out of this on the other end whole."

The Kantor book portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

The book, titled "The Obamas," describes Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, while labeling her an "unrecognized force" in pursuing the president's goals. Neither the president nor his wife agreed to be interviewed for the book.

"I do care deeply about my husband," Mrs. Obama said in the CBS appearance. "I am one of his biggest allies. I am one of his biggest confidants." But she sought to put aside "this notion that I sit in meetings."

"I guess it's just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here," she said. "That's been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I'm some kind of angry black woman."

"There will always be people who don't like me," Mrs. Obama added, and said she could live with that.

Mrs. Obama said that she's "just trying to be me, and I just hope that over time, that people get to know me."

Asked specifically about an assertion of dissension between herself and Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, the first lady said she has "never had a cross word" with him. The same, she said, applies to Gibbs, whom she described as "a good friend, and remains so."

"I'm sure we could go day to day and find things people wished they didn't say to each other," Mrs., Obama said. "And that's why I don't read these books. ... It's a game, in so many ways, that doesn't fit. Who can write about what I feel? What third person can tell me what I feel?"

Mrs. Obama said that when questions or conflicts arise involving her and the White House staff, her East Wing staff resolves the issue with her husband's staff in the West Wing.

"If there's communication that needs to happen, it's between staffs," she said. "I don't have conversations with my husband's staff."

Continue Reading... Labels: 'angry, Black, image, Obama:, woman'

Violence, pepper spray mars Black Friday shopping

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A shopper pepper-sprayed other bargain hunters and robbers shot at customers to steal their Black Friday purchases, marring the start of the U.S. holiday shopping season, according to authorities.

Up to 20 people were injured after a woman used pepper spray at a Walmart in Los Angeles to get an edge on her competitors. In a second incident, off-duty officers in North Carolina used pepper spray to subdue rowdy shoppers waiting for electronics.

A man was in critical but stable condition after being shot by robbers in a parking lot outside a Walmart In San Leandro, California, at 1:50 a.m. (0950 GMT), Sergeant Mike Sobek said.

The man was in a group of men headed for their car after shopping when robbers confronted them and a fight ensued, Sobek said. The man's shopping companions held down one of the robbers until police arrived and took him into custody.

"It doesn't look like they got away with anything. They weren't expecting these guys to fight back," Sobek said.

In Los Angeles, authorities were reviewing security tapes to track down a woman in her 30s who pepper-sprayed a crowd at a Walmart as customers swarmed for Xboxes on sale late Thursday, Los Angeles police Sergeant J. Valle said.

"They were opening a package to try to get some Xboxes from a crate and this lady pepper-sprayed a whole bunch of people in order to gain an advantage over the Xboxes," Valle said.

Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for U.S. stores.

'SENSELESS ACT'

Off-duty police officers working as security for a Walmart in Kinston, North Carolina, used pepper spray to keep anxious shoppers at bay before the start of an electronics sale at midnight on Thursday, authorities said.

The already "rowdy" atmosphere intensified when employees began to bring out pallets of electronic merchandise, Kinston director of public safety Bill Johnson said.

When customers tried to grab merchandise from the pallets before the sale time, the off-duty officers hired as store security guards for the event discharged pepper spray to restore order, Johnson said. One man was arrested for failing to follow officers' orders, he said.

"No one was pepper sprayed in the face," Johnson said, adding that he was unaware of any injuries.

Walmart is the U.S. discount store unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. A company spokesman, Greg Rossiter, said violence at a handful of stores marred an otherwise safe start to the holiday shopping season at thousands of Walmart stores.

The San Leandro shooting "was a senseless act of violence and our thoughts and prayers are with the customer and his family during this difficult time," Rossiter said.

In another incident, a woman was shot in the foot by a robber who accosted her in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, early on Friday demanding her purse as she and companions put their purchases into a car trunk near a Walmart, police said.

The shopper was hospitalized. Her condition was not known.

A Cave Creek, Arizona, Walmart was evacuated and shopping halted temporarily Thursday night after an apparent explosive device was found in an employee break room, Maricopa County Sheriff's Department spokesman Christopher Hegstrom said.

"We sent a robot in," Hegstrom said, adding that the device was removed and the store was reopened after bomb squad dogs were sent through the facility.

In Manhattan, a group of shoppers upset that Hollister's flagship store was not opening at midnight like other locations apparently broke into the store and stole a large quantity of clothing, police said. No arrests have been made in the burglary.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York, Harriet McLeod in South Carolina, Joe Rauch in North Carolina, Jessica Wohl and Eric Johnson in Chicago, Aman Ali from Ohio, Mary Slosson in Colorado; Editing by David Bailey and Paul Simao)

Continue Reading... Labels: Black, Friday, pepper, shopping, spray, Violence

Woman pepper sprays other Black Friday shoppers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman trying to improve her chance to buy cheap electronics at a Walmart in a wealthy suburb spewed pepper spray on a crowd of shoppers and 20 people suffered minor injuries, police said Friday.

The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale at the Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping, when the woman began spraying people "in order to get an advantage," police Sgt. Jose Valle said.

"Faces were red," shopper John Lopez told ABC News Radio. "This one guy was coming up to my wife going, 'Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!'"

Matthew Lopez, 18, told the Los Angeles Times he heard screaming and yelling.

"Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up," he said.

In the aftermath, video showed dozens of shoppers milling around while employees urge them to back up and make room.

It was the only major violence reported at a Southern California store involving Black Friday Thanksgiving holiday sales.

Ten people were slightly injured by the pepper spray and 10 others suffered minor bumps and bruises in the chaos, Valle said. They were treated at the scene.

"People could have gotten trampled," he said. "Good thing there were no small kids."

The woman got away in the confusion, but it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox, Valle said.

"Walmart is going through register receipts to see if it was purchased," he said.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray kept shopping.

"This was an unfortunate situation. We're glad everyone seems to be OK," Walmart said in a statement. "We're working with law enforcement to provide what information we have, such as surveillance video, to assist in their investigation."

The woman could face felony battery charges if she is found, Valle said.

Continue Reading... Labels: Black, Friday, other, pepper, shoppers, sprays, Woman