Obama Says Anger Over Ferguson Outcome No Excuse for Violence
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 25: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Copernicus Community Center on November 25, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama discussed the executive actions he is taking to address the country's immigration system. (Photo by John Gress/Getty Images)
Photograph by John Gress/Getty ImagesPresident Barack Obama acknowledged the anger of minority communities over their treatment by police and urged them not to let their frustrations boil over into the kind of violence that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri.
Burning cars and buildings won’t diminish discrimination or result in fairer law enforcement, Obama said. Public anger over a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager should instead be directed into political action to change the system, he said.