Obama Condemns George Floyd Riots: ‘Let’s Not Excuse Violence’
Writing on
Medium, Obama sympathized with the sentiments, saying the rioting was destroying “neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment” and pointing to civic engagement as the way forward.
“Let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves,” he
argued.
The former president concluded by stating that “justifiable anger” must be channeled into “peaceful, sustained, and effective action.”
“If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals,” Obama said.
Former president Barack Obama decried the looting and burning of American cities in response to the death of George Floyd, saying it was “compounding the destruction” of inner-city communities and “detracting from the larger cause.”Obama pointed to a viral video of an elderly black Minneapolis...
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