Barack and Michelle Obama’s Powerful Statements Highlight What’s Lacking In Our Current Leadership
The Situation In The US
This weekend, plenty of protests were held across different cities of America to denounce the police killings.
This was regarding the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and uncountable other black Americans.
The most recent murder of Floyd, an unarmed black man by a Minneapolis police officer on Monday was as disastrous as ever.
It has now come to symbolize the various acts of racism and police brutality that black Americans are force to tolerate even now.
The protests, a few led to violence and looting have undeniably been termed as radical.
Trump’s Remarks
Nonetheless, a few others seem to recognize them as a necessary step for overcoming racism and other issues prevalent still.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter, as usual, to talk disparingly about the entire situation.
He called the protestors “thugs,” and said they “are dishonouring the memory of George Floyd.
The Obama
The former president, Barack Obama, being himself, acknowledged the radical change that needs to occur.
He went on to say that It’s natural to wish for life ‘to just get back to normal’ as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us.
Obama added that we have to remember, for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal’.
This was whether it was while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.
He ended his statement, saying this shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal’, and we couldn’t agree more.
Michelle Obama, shared an image of Floyd on her Instagram page this weekend.
She wrote how like so many of us, she is pain by these recent tragedies.
She went on to say that she is exhaust by a heartbreak that never seems to stop. Right now it’s George, Breonna, and Ahmaud. Before that, it was Eric, Sandra, and Michael. It just goes on, and on, and on.
‘Race and racism is a reality that so many of us grow up learning to just deal with. But if we ever hope to move past it, it can’t just be on people of colour to deal with it”, she said.
