I found these two articles in the same newspaper . The article reporting on Obama speaking to a group of police chiefs in Chicago is from October of 2015 .
He talked about the high crime rates in the black communities " black on black crime " , he spoke about how tough it is being a cop and how often a cop is expected to make snap decisions under dangerous conditions and how police "should not receive nearly so much blame."
It is a pretty long read , here is a few paragraphs from the article .
Obama: Police Are 'Scapegoats' for Broader Failures of Society
Quote:
The president was strongly supportive of law enforcement: “In you, we often see America at its best. You don’t just protect us from each other, you build a foundation so that we can trust each other and rely on each other.” He said that falling crime rates did not mean that minority concerns about the police could be brushed aside, but he said that police should not receive nearly so much blame.
“Too often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for broader failures of our society and our criminal-justice system,” he said. “You do your job with distinction no matter the challenges you face. But we can’t expect you to contain and control problems that the rest of us aren’t willing to face or do anything about‚ problems ranging from substandard education to a shortage of jobs and opportunity, an absence of drug-treatment programs, and laws that result in it being easier in too many neighborhoods for a young person to purchase a gun than a book.”
Nor did Obama shy away from discussing the high rates of crime in black communities—“black-on-black crime” and issues in African American communities that he is sometimes (unconvincingly) accused of overlooking. Chicago, where black communities have seen extremely high violent crime in the last few years, was a natural place to discuss this. “Our divides are not as deep as some would suggest,” he said. “I don’t know anyone in the minority community who doesn’t want strong effective law enforcement.”
“Too often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for broader failures of our society and our criminal-justice system.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/obama-police-chief-chicago-scapegoat-black-lives-matter/412717/
In this article Obama defends the black lives matter activists while at the same time reminding them that the police have a tough job to do and they all should work together with police .
Here is a couple of paragraphs from the article. There is a link to a video of his speech in the article.
President Obama Defends Black Lives Matter
Quote:
I want to drive home one point and that is the relationship between race and the criminal-justice system because this is sometimes where politics intrudes. Black Lives Matter is a social media movement that has tried to gel around Ferguson and the Eric Garner case and some other cases that came up, and very rapidly it was posited as being in opposition to the police. And sometimes like any of these loose organizations, some people pop off and say dumb things.
And it’s incumbent then upon the activists to also take seriously the tough job that police have. And that’s one of the things that the post-Ferguson task force did. We had activists who were marching in Ferguson with police chiefs and law enforcement, sitting down and hearing this stuff out. And just assuming good faith in other people, going to the issue of people being cynical, I think is important. I’ve rarely gotten something accomplished assuming the worst in other people. Usually it works better if I assume the best. I just wanted to make that point.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/10/obama-defends-black-lives-matter/412066/
I'm hoping for a discussion of the two articles.
Apr 29, 2016 @ 05:25:51
Thank God I was taught my both my loving parents...that ALL lives matter! But this whole issue isn't about ALL lives mattering. Because it's a FACT that when this not so great nation was founded by lazy a** slave owning founders....black lives didn't matter to them did they? WTF?
