While the world is still reacting to the decision made by the Ferguson Grand Jury not to charge police officer Darren Wilson with the death of Mike Brown (click here if you missed it), President Obama has taken a minute to address the issue.
“Either way it was going to be the subject of intense disagreement,” the 53-year-old president shared during his speech to the country. “We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make.”
He added, “There are Americans who agree with it, and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed — even angry. It’s an understandable reaction.”
He continued, “We have made enormous progress in race relations over the course of the past several decades. I have witnessed that in my own life, and to deny that progress, I think is to deny America’s capacity for change. But what is also true is that there are still problems — and communities of color aren’t just making these problems up. Separating that from this particular decision, there are issues in which the law too often feels as if it is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.”
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Mike Brown’s family also released a statement:
“We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen. Join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera. We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction. Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference,”