White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Mr. Obama, who phoned congratulations Thursday to new Prime Minister Theresa May, intends to maintain America’s “special relationship” with the United Kingdom.
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“What’s been apparent is that it’s not enough just for us to have a task force, a report and then follow up through our departments, we have to push this out to communities so that they feel ownership for some of the good ideas that have been floating around this table”, he said. “But what we can do is to set up the kinds of respectful conversations that we’ve had here, not just in Washington, but around the country”.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday said more must be done to build trust that police violence against blacks and Hispanics will be properly investigated. He said even though the protests can sometimes be “messy” or “hijacked by an irresponsible few”, it shouldn’t stop anyone from empathizing with the victims’ families.
“This is a time we need to talk frankly to each other”, said civil rights activist Al Sharpton. “We can’t mistake dialogue for actual change, and in the absence of action, nothing changes”.
U.S. President Barack Obama (C) speaks during a conversation on community policing and criminal justice July 13, 2016 at Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. Both police encounters were captured on videotape.
Obama conceded that problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.
The Times wrote that Obama predicted more anger and unrest in cities. And the president giving some leadership and guidance. Those meetings prompted the president to provide federal funding for community policing and anti-bias efforts, including for the purchase of body-worn cameras.
He laid out a series of steps that could help to improve relations between law enforcement and communities, including improving data collection and updating police training practices.
The president is walking a hard line as he seeks to make progress on stubbornly entrenched divisions and build trust between constituencies that have only grown more suspicious of each other.
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Obama has devoted his attention this week to hostilities directed at police officers as well as shootings by police. The president said the US will leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan when he completes his term, down slightly from the current number but well up from the 5,500 he announced previously, arguing America’s interests depend on helping Afghanistan’s struggling government fight continuing threats from the Taliban and others.
