Following a horrific week of events across the U.S. President Barack Obama sits down to discuss race and policing in the aftermath of two police shootings of black men Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in addition to the Dallas mass shooting which left five police officers dead.
The Washington D.C. town hall is titled “The President and the People: A National Conversation.”
The first question came from Alton Sterling’s 15-year-old son Cameron who last week was seen breaking down during a press conference about the death of his father.
He asked Obama to keep his family and other families safe in addition to keeping good police officers safe.
“I ask for your help to unite all the races of this world,” Cameron said. On Wednesday Cameron held a press conference and asked for protests to be peaceful.
Obama, who said he was proud of Cameron, said after the question: “I don’t want a generation of people growing up thinking they have to mistrust police.”
Diamond Reynolds, Philando Castile’s girlfriend who livestreamed the aftermath of police shooting Castile, spoke via video. “When I think about my daughter’s future, i’m scared for her,” said Reynolds who asked Obama how these police shootings can stop.
Obama answered Reynolds by first off saying people people need to recognize we need police and that we need to “embrace” them. On the flip side he said, as he has before, police need to get to know their communities. Other things that need to be done he said include training officers to get rid of biases and ensuring there’s resources, like money, for that to be possible.
“I’m Mr. Hope when it comes to these issues” Obama said later elaborating on that message of hopefulness saying, “Things are much better than they used to be.” He listed lower crime rates as signs of hope that things have improved.
19-year-old Black Lives Matter activist Clifton Kinnie asked:"What do you envision safety looks like for poor black and brown communities?"
.@POTUS says we need to provide jobs and training in poor communities to help keep people safe. #POTUStownhall https://t.co/JODe2Acasj
Asked about his own experience with police Obama said that although he’s had encounters where police have been “courteous” it hasn’t always been like that. He also shared an anecdote of when he experienced racism when he was younger.
.@POTUS says he faced racial prejudice as a kid walking on elevator: “When I walked on, she got off.” https://t.co/WDF4HWzntr
“A greater presumption of dangerousness arises from the social and cultural perceptions that have been fed to folks for a long time,” Obama said. While reiterating things are not as bad he added that those presumptions are still there and that presumptions can lead to “dangerous situations” even outside of police encounters.
.@POTUS says "we can’t put the burden on police alone" in keeping people safe. "It's going to require investments." https://t.co/MlxkPJPekT
Obama once again addressed why Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean that other lives matter but is rather pointing to “a specific vulnerability for African Americans.”
One suggestion Obama made is for police investigations (presumably the ones that come after police shootings) to be more transparent.
You can livestream it below.
After the town hall, Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, spoke out in anger about her role in the event. "I was railroaded! I was railroaded by ABC on the two-year anniversary of my father's death!" People reported her yelling directly after the event. "That's what I have to do? A black person has to yell to be heard?"
She later spoke out on Twitter, saying she was angry at ABC for allegedly lying to her about being able to ask President Obama a question.
