The police force in Ferguson, Missouri, was “oppressive and abusive,” US President Barack Obama said on Friday, as he prepared to commemorate a half-century since the historic US civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama.
In his most expansive comments yet about the US Department of Justice’s report on racial bias in Ferguson, Obama said it was striking that investigators merely had to look at e-mail sent by police officials to find evidence of bias. He said Ferguson now must make a decision about how to move forward.
“Are they going to enter into some sort of agreement with the Justice Department to fix what is clearly a broken and racially biased system?” Obama asked.
Photo: Reuters
Ferguson city leaders are to meet with department officials in about two weeks to put forth an improvement plan.
Although Obama said he did not think what happened in Ferguson was typical of the rest of the nation, he added that it was not an isolated incident.
He called for communities to work together to address tensions between police forces and communities without succumbing to cynical attitudes that say “this is never going to change, because everybody’s racist.”
“That’s not a good solution,” Obama said. “That’s not what the folks in Selma did.”
Obama’s comments at South Carolina’s Benedict College came the day before he was to travel to Alabama for the 50th anniversary of the civil rights marches and what is known in the US as “Bloody Sunday.”
Obama called the push for “a fair and more just criminal justice system” part of the modern struggle for civil rights.
Obama was set to lead yesterday’s tribute in Selma, where 50 years ago police officers beat scores of people who were marching from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital, to protest their lack of voting rights. The violent images broadcast on national television helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Selma is not just about commemorating the past, it’s about honoring the legends who helped change this country through your actions today, in the here and now,” Obama said at a town hall meeting. “Selma is now.”
Obama told students at the college that Selma was possible because of the young people who decided to act. He highlighted that one of the most famous leaders of the Selma march — now Georgia Representative John Lewis — was 23 years old at the time.
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