Toni Morrison: I never meant Clinton was the first black president

Ouch

Do you regret referring to Bill Clinton as the first black President? —Justin Dews, Cambridge, Mass.

MORRISON: People misunderstood that phrase. I was deploring the way in which President Clinton was being treated, vis-à-vis the sex scandal that was surrounding him. I said he was being treated like a black on the street, already guilty, already a perp. I have no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race.