Former President Barack Obama today delivered a
message of sympathy and a call to action regarding police violence against
Black Americans.
He did so in opening an online town hall hosted by the
Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance titled “Reimagining Policing in
the Wake of Continued Police Violence.”
He invoked the names of African-Americans who have
recently died at the hands of police, including George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor, and transgender man Tony McDade, as
well as Ahmaud Arbery; three white civilians have been charged with murder in
Arbery’s death.
He acknowledged the “pain, uncertainty, disruption”
that these deaths have caused to these people’s families and others, and he
offered his sympathy. He also noted that communities of color have suffered
disproportionate losses in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
He went on to note, however, that there are signs of
hope in the mobilization of young people to address systemic racism. “We have
seen in the last several weeks, last few months, the kind of epic changes and
events in our country that are as profound as I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Obama
said.
The events “offer an opportunity to us to all work
together to tackle” the problems caused by the legacy of slavery, “Jim Crow”
segregation laws, and other manifestations of racism, the nation’s “original
sin,” he said.
He said he was particularly encouraged by the fact
that there is a broad coalition of people involve in anti-racism protests, far
more so than in the 1960s, and by the mobilization of young people. All
movements for social change have been spurred by young people, he said; Martin
Luther King, Jr. and others were young when they began their work for civil
rights, and other movements, such as organized labor, feminism, and LGBTQ+
rights, have involved young Americans.
“This country is going to get better” because of the
work of young people who are now “galvanized and activated and motivated,”
Obama said.
He also specifically addressed young people of color,
especially those who have seen violence up close. “I want you to know that you
matter. Your lives matter. Your dreams matter,” he said.
He went on to say that protesting versus involvement
in electoral politics isn’t and either/or proposition. The passion behind
protests, he said, must be translated into “practical solutions and laws that
can be implemented.” He urged mayors and lawmakers around the nation to look at
ways to reform policing in their communities.
Others to be participating in the town hall today
include former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; Rashad Robinson, executive
director of Color of Change; Brittany Packnett Cunningham, cofounder of
Campaign Zero and former member of President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task
Force; Phillipe Cunningham, a Minneapolis City Council member and a Black trans
man; and Playon Patrick, youth leader for My Brother’s Keeper in Columbus,
Ohio. It is streaming at Obama.org and
numerous other websites.
It's also viewable below; Obama begins speaking at
about the 7:30 mark.
SOURCE: ADVOCATE
I like that he terms it this country's original sin. Absolutely true. This country would not otherwise exist as it is and Africa would be a completely different continent. We stole some of their best and brightest. And that needs to be atoned for. I wish these so-called Christians, who think THEY founded this nation would wake up and accept this. You would think that they would be all for atoning for sin. But given that they are such a hypocritical bunch, they of course see themselves as blameless. Great post.
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