Obama’s Statement On The Protests Exposes Trump’s Failures

Read this to understand what it would be like to have a real president in office now. Obama’s Statement On The Protests Exposes Trump’s Failures

On Monday morning, former President Barack Obama posted a statement on the wave of protests and police violence rocking the country, celebrating peaceful protesters and calling for fundamental reform of America’s police forces. It’s a perfectly fine statement by Obama’s standards: compelling, not extraordinary.

But comparing what he said to the angry tweets President Donald Trump is busy firing off reveals just how badly the White House’s current occupant is failing.

Obama’s first major point is that the protesters resorting to violence are a small group; the vast majority are peaceful protesters coming out to demonstrate against severe and ongoing injustice:

First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States.

The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible, and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation — something that police in cities like Camden and Flint have commendably understood.

On the other hand, the small minority of folks who’ve resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment and detracting from the larger cause. I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed. If history is any guide, that store may take years to come back. So 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.

Trump has not issued any kind of formal statement supporting the legitimate aims of protesters or calling for reform of police departments. On Twitter, he has worked overtime to cast the demonstrators as dangerous “anarchists” who need to be put down:

Get tough Democrat Mayors and Governors. These people are ANARCHISTS. Call in our National Guard NOW. The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe. Is this what America wants? NO!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020

Obama’s second core point that is that reform to the police and criminal justice system requires political engagement at the local level. Demonstrations are good, but they need to be followed up by electoral organizing and voting aimed at empowering reformers at the city and county level:

It’s mayors and county executives that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions. It’s district attorneys and state’s attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and ultimately charge those involved in police misconduct.

Those are all elected positions. In some places, police review boards with the power to monitor police conduct are elected as well. Unfortunately, voter turnout in these local races is usually pitifully low, especially among young people — which makes no sense given the direct impact these offices have on social justice issues, not to mention the fact that who wins and who loses those seats is often determined by just a few thousand, or even a few hundred, votes.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde: “The President just used a Bible … and one of the churches of my diocese without permission as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything our churches stand for….I am outraged.” pic.twitter.com/yegcO7xoJ0

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 2, 2020

While Obama is specific about creating change at the local level, Trump is treating the protests as an opportunity to exploit widespread fear for his reelection campaign. Monday morning, he tweeted repeatedly about the presidential election on November 3 — including the allegation that “Sleepy Joe” Biden is in league with anarchist demonstrators who, he strangely claims, want to raise taxes:

Sleepy Joe Biden’s people are so Radical Left that they are working to get the Anarchists out of jail, and probably more. Joe doesn’t know anything about it, he is clueless, but they will be the real power, not Joe. They will be calling the shots! Big tax increases for all, Plus!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2020

Third and finally, Obama outlined the kinds of specific policy proposals that could concretely reduce police violence against African Americans — and provided links to lists of organizations working to enact these policies, for those Americans interested:

Finally, the more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away. The content of that reform agenda will be different for various communities. A big city may need one set of reforms; a rural community may need another. Some agencies will require wholesale rehabilitation; others should make minor improvements. Every law enforcement agency should have clear policies, including an independent body that conducts investigations of alleged misconduct. Tailoring reforms for each community will require local activists and organizations to do their research and educate fellow citizens in their community on what strategies work best.

But as a starting point, here’s a report and toolkit developed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and based on the work of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing that I formed when I was in the White House. And if you’re interested in taking concrete action, we’ve also created a dedicated site at the Obama Foundation to aggregate and direct you to useful resources and organizations who’ve been fighting the good fight at the local and national levels for years.

Trump, who is currently in office and thus has far more power to put pressure on police to reform, does not seem interested in any sort of policy solution. His most notable policy response to the weekend’s violence has been an announcement that he will declare “antifa” a terrorist organization — an idea that not only fails to respond to the root cause of the protests but is also incoherent and legally impossible:

The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020

The last president condemned rioting, but also correctly identified police violence as the root cause of America’s current unrest and proposed ideas for how citizens and elected officials could work on reducing them. The current president has painted peaceful demonstrators calling for such change as a bloc of violent anarchists, and tried to use the misleading label “antifa” to categorize their behavior as a form of terrorism.

The contrast could not be clearer.

Updated: 6-2-2020

Obama Condemns Violence And Calls For Change In Wake Of George Floyd Protests

Former President Barack Obama on Monday condemned violence amid protests over the death of George Floyd and police brutality and called for political solutions to address protesters’ grievances about criminal justice.

The message from Obama, who previously decried Floyd’s death last week when he said the killings of black men at the hands of police “shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America,” follows a weekend that saw an escalation in protests nationwide.

“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,” Obama wrote in an essay on Medium.

As the country’s first black president, Obama is in a unique position to address the racial divide at the heart of the protests. He didn’t mention his successor, President Donald Trump, who has largely stoked tensions by calling protesters “thugs” and threatening violence against looters, though he also called for “healing, not hatred” in remarks about the crisis on Saturday.

The former president also noted that while protesting and civil disobedience puts a spotlight on racial injustice, “aspirations have to be translated into specific laws and institutional practices” and emphasized the importance of electing the right officials at all levels of government.

“Yes, we should be fighting to make sure that we have a president, a Congress, a US Justice Department, and a federal judiciary that actually recognize the ongoing, corrosive role that racism plays in our society and want to do something about it,” he wrote. “But the elected officials who matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system work at the state and local levels.”

He added, “The bottom line is this: if we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.”

In his statement on Friday, Obama called for officials in Minnesota to bring justice in Floyd’s death.

“It falls on all of us, regardless of our race or station — including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day — to work together to create a ‘new normal’ in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts,” Obama said at the time.

Following Trump’s Rose Garden address on Monday, Obama again took to Twitter, this time quoting George Floyd’s brother, who had spoken earlier in the day in Minneapolis.

“Let’s do this another way. Let’s stop thinking our voice don’t matter and vote. Not just for the president…educate yourself and know who you’re voting for. And that’s how we’re going to hit ’em,” Obama wrote, attaching a NBC News clip of Terrence Floyd’s speech.

George Bush In Michigan In 2009

George W. Bush Breaks Silence On George Floyd

Former President George W. Bush (R) wrote in a statement Tuesday that he and his wife, Laura, are “anguished” by the death of George Floyd, and said that “it is time for America to examine our tragic failures.”

Why It Matters: It’s a stark juxtaposition when compared to fellow Republican President Trump’s response to current civil unrest. While Trump has called for justice in Floyd’s death, he’s also condemned violent protestors and threatened to deploy military personnel if demonstrations continue.

Former president Joe Biden, made no mention of the current administration in his statement.

Bush writes that he and his wife over the past week actively “resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen.”

What He’s Saying: Bush argued Americans best serve their neighbors when they “try to understand their experience.”

“It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country…,” Bush wrote.

“How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America — or how it becomes a better place,” he added.

The bottom line: Bush said “lasting justice will only come by peaceful means,” condemning looting and destruction that’s occurred in some demonstrations.

But “we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system.”