First lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama greet the audience attending the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 44th Annual Legislative Conference Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014.WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday said the widespread mistrust of law enforcement that was exposed by the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, is corroding America, not just its black communities, and that the wariness flows from significant racial disparities in the administration of justice.
Speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner, Obama said these suspicions only harm communities that need law enforcement the most.
“It makes folks who are victimized by crime and need strong policing reluctant to go to the police because they may not trust them,” he said. “And the worst part of it is it scars the hearts of our children,” leading some youngsters to unnecessarily fear people who do not look like them while leading others to constantly feel under suspicion no matter what they do.
“That is not the society we want,” Obama said. “It’s not the society that our children deserve.”
The fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August sparked days of violent protests and racial unrest in predominantly black Ferguson. The police officer who shot Brown was white.