Obama’s Opinions on the Police Reform
This week, former United States President Barack Obama slammed the “Defund the Police” movement – one of the many reforms that state locals fight for after the past police shooting incidents and the death of George Floyd last May 2020.
During his two interviews this week, Obama expressed his disagreement with the said campaign. Obama described the slogan as a “snappy one,” stating that the catchphrase only makes people feel good and nothing else. He sounded off from his press conferences, explaining that the campaign’s trademark does not live up to creating actual changes with the country’s police system.
For instance, Obama appeared on “Good Luck America,” a political show hosted by Snapchat. During his interview with the production, he got asked by the hosts about his thoughts about the “Defund the police” movement. Obama admitted that the activists’ intention to alter the state’s law enforcement structure is genuine, but the catchphrase they chose says otherwise. According to Obama, the campaign’s slogan lacks the passion and drive to encourage a bigger audience to mark changes as reality. Due to his response on the matter, Obama advises new-age campaigners to use a different technique when advertising their reforms toward the general public.
Obama started portraying his suggestion by asking the viewers about their specific goals when wanting to make better changes toward the country’s political and stately affairs. He also noted that activists should pay close attention to how they want those aims to become established. If their only objective is to make people feel great about themselves, Obama concluded that the majority would not take the initiative seriously.
Additionally, Obama suggested that activists should take into account how the United States is a big and diverse country. Reformers should create their slogan in such a way that people of different backgrounds could relate and help them achieve the democratic goals they want for the betterment of the nation. Instead of playing a game of subtraction, Obama suggested that they do the opposite.
Obama’s Interview with April Ryan and the 2009 Arrest Scandal
In another interview with CNN Political Analyst and American Urban Radio Networks DC bureau chief April Ryan, Obama talked more about the police movement – a popular and controversial topic in the country’s current happenings. An example of the previously mentioned subject focuses on Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s arrest in 2009. The detention scandal caused Obama’s ratings to drop as the then-state president during the time.
In response to the subject matter, Obama believed that the police’s actions from that time are foolish and reckless. He further explained that only because a neighbor mistook the said Harvard professor for a burglar, the cops still arrested him at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On his Monday interview concerning the 2009 arrest, Obama told Ryan how baffling the event was. He went on to say that the police detained a 60-year-old man who posed no harm to anybody at all, making even Obama question the country’s law enforcement industry.
Moreover, Obama pointed out that his doubt about the police force sparked the public to do the same. He also noted that the tragic events that transpired against minority groups like the black community have immensely ignited citizens’ drive to modify the law enforcement structure of the country. According to Obama, one of the reasons behind the unfortunate police shootings stemmed from the White population’s fear of African Americans not respecting authority or going out of control with their actions. The said cause, Obama stated, is not the case at all.
The three-part series of Obama’s interview with Peter Hamby would air starting Wednesday and would end by Friday this week.
