President Obama: Power Speaking Truth
During a press conference earlier this week, President Obama was asked about protests in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died while in police custody.
President Barack Obama speaks about recent unrest in Baltimore on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In his response, Obama went beyond Baltimore to address the systemic poverty and lack of opportunity facing urban communities throughout the country. The Daily Beast called it, “The best public 15 minutes of his presidency.”
Children’s Council helps to close this opportunity gap by enabling parents to work or pursue their education, and ensuring that children experience quality early care and education. So we recognize the importance of President Obama’s efforts to shine a light on these issues. Here are some highlights:
“If we are serious about solving this problem, then we’re going to not only have to help the police, we’re going to have to think about what can we do, the rest of us, to make sure that we’re providing early education to these kids.”
“If we really want to solve the problem, if our society really wanted to solve the problem, we could. It’s just it would require everybody saying this is important, this is significant, and we don’t just pay attention when a young man gets shot or has his spine snapped. We’re paying attention all the time because we consider those kids our kids and we think they’re important and they shouldn’t be living in poverty and violence.”
“But I think we, as a country, have to do some soul searching. This is not new. It’s been going on for decades…I think there are a lot of good-meaning people around the country that feel that way. But that kind of political mobilization, I think we haven’t seen in quite some time.”
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