Former President Barack Obama (D) is praising the “broad coalition” of Americans who have come together to protest police brutality and demand police reforms.
“I have to tell you, although I was very young when you had riots, and protests, and assassinations, and discord back in the ’60s. I know enough about that history to say, ‘There is something different here,'” Obama said during a virtual town hall on Wednesday evening.
“You look at those protests, and that was a far more representative cross-section of America out on the streets peacefully protesting. And who felt moved to do something because of the injustices that they had seen. That didn’t exist back in the 1960s, that kind of broad coalition,” Obama added.
He continued to note that the fact that while some demonstrations have turned violent across the country, many have been peaceful and, “A majority of Americans still think those protests were justified. That wouldn’t have existed 30, 40, 50 years ago. There is a change in mindset that’s taking place, a greater recognition, that we can do better.”
Watch the video below:
Obama: "That's a direct result of the activities … of so many young people across the country who put themselves out on the line to make a difference. And so i just have to say thank you to them."
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 3, 2020
Additionally, Obama praised the activism of young Americans across the country.
“That is not a consequence of speeches by politicians. That’s not the result of spotlights in news articles. That’s a direct result of the activities and organizing and mobilization and engagement of so many young people across the country who put themselves out on the line to make a difference. And so I just have to say thank you to them.”
Obama added that while the past few weeks have been “scary” and “uncertain,” he sees it as a chance for people to come together and “change America to make it live up to the highest ideals.”