--- title: Ben Carson Said Obama Was 'Raised White' description: "He didn't grow up like I grew up." canonical: https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-23T14:51:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:17:34.563Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Says Obama Was 'Raised White' og:description: "He didn't grow up like I grew up" og:url: https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd420c65bd9e0bd11/69887ea45f570f1617b1fbe5/ben-carson-raised-white-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidates Take Part In CNN Town Hall og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Says Obama Was 'Raised White' twitter:description: "He didn't grow up like I grew up" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd420c65bd9e0bd11/69887ea45f570f1617b1fbe5/ben-carson-raised-white-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Says Obama Can't Understand Black Experience Because He Was 'Raised White' by [Jane C. Timm / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Jane C. Timm / NBC News Feb 23, 2016 2:51 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson participates in a CNN South Carolina Republican Presidential Town Hall February 17, 2016 in Greenville, South Carolina. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson participates in a CNN South Carolina Republican Presidential Town Hall February 17, 2016 in Greenville, South Carolina.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Jane C. Timm / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Jane C. Timm / NBC News Feb 23, 2016 2:51 PM UTC Dr. Ben Carson said that Barack Obama was “raised white” and can’t understand the African-American experience the way he can on Tuesday. “He’s an ‘African’ American. He was, you know, raised white,” [he told a Politico podcast](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/ben-carson-obama-was-raised-white-219657#ixzz40zxhuJMl). “I mean, like most Americans, I was proud that we broke the color barrier when he was elected, but … he didn’t grow up like I grew up … Many of his formative years were spent in Indonesia. So, for him to, you know, claim that, you know, he identifies with the experience of black Americans, I think, is a bit of a stretch.” [_Read the rest of this story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ben-carson-president-obama-raised-white-doesn-t-understand-black-n524176?cid=par-time%5F20160223) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Says Obama Can't Understand Black Experience Because He Was 'Raised White'","datePublished":"2016-02-23T14:51:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:17:34.563Z","description":"\"He didn't grow up like I grew up\"","url":"https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","politics","White House","Obama","presidency","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd420c65bd9e0bd11/69887ea45f570f1617b1fbe5/ben-carson-raised-white-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jane C. Timm / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd420c65bd9e0bd11/69887ea45f570f1617b1fbe5/ben-carson-raised-white-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidates Take Part In CNN Town Hall","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson participates in a CNN South Carolina Republican Presidential Town Hall February 17, 2016 in Greenville, South Carolina.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4233661/ben-carson-obama-white/","name":"Ben Carson Says Obama Can't Understand Black Experience Because He Was 'Raised White'"}}]}] ```