Obama's message to young people of color: "I want you to know that you matter"
Obamas message to young people of color: I want you to know that you matter
Obama praised young people of color for creating urgency around systemic racism and police brutality.
By Nicole Narea@nicolenarea Jun 3, 2020, 8:00pm EDT
Former President Barack Obama sent a message of gratitude to young people of color, who have witnessed too much violence and too much death, and said their activism has been a source of hope for him.
I want you to know that you matter. I want you to know that your lives matter, that your dreams matter, Obama said in a livestream of a roundtable hosted by My Brothers Keeper, an organization he launched in 2014, on Wednesday evening. You should be able to learn and make mistakes and live a life of joy without having to worry about whats going to happen when you walk to the store or go for a jog or are driving down the street or are looking at some birds in a park.
Its not the first time that Obama has remarked publicly on the nationwide protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, signaling a level of engagement that is unusual for a former president.
He wrote an essay on Medium earlier this week contemplating how the current protests could galvanize real change. He condemned the few protesters who have resorted to violence including breaking store windows and setting fires urging them to instead set an example for how American society should operate and clearly articulate their demands, a message he repeated Wednesday evening.
In his roundtable, he likened the young people taking to the streets in the name of the Black Lives Matter movement to other civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Malcolm X.
You have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is something thats got to change, he said. Youve communicated a sense of urgency. That is as powerful and as transformative as anything that Ive seen in recent years.
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https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21279759/barack-obama-george-floyd-racism-police-brutality