Amid the rising tension in the United States over the killing of George Floyd by the police officers, Barack Obama released his statement on Facebook regarding the state of justice in the U.S.
Protests have incited civil unrest in many states of U.S. Obama said, “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.”
Arsons and lootings have ravaged a number of cities. For Obama these embody “genuine anger” but he cautions it could be mere opportunism. Violence is “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.”
Highlighting the role of elected officials in reforming the criminal justice system, Obama pointed out, “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.”
To reform the criminal justice system he suggested that every law enforcement must have an agenda with an independent body that conducts investigations of alleged misconduct. Here he emphasized the role of grassroots movements and local organizations that will be helpful in disseminating information and imparting awareness about the strategies to stymie over “unequal justice”.
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