Barack Obama appeared on Black Entertainment Television, Monday, and faced little in the way of tough questioning. The President asserted that racism is "something that is deeply rooted in our society. It's deeply rooted in our history." ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday highlighted the BET interview, but avoided that critique.
The President talked to BET reporter Jeff Johnson about Ferguson, the Eric Garner case in New York and how African Americans interact with police. Obama proclaimed, "You know, when you're dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias in any society, you've got to have vigilance, but you've got to recognize that it's going to take some time, and you just have to be steady so that you don't give up when we don't get all the way there."
Johnson offered only the mildest of challenges in the half hour-long interview:
JEFF JOHNSON: The country is concerned about can "we trust police? Are we safe with police? This problem didn't begin under your watch. This is incredibly persistent and pervasive. How much of it does your administration feel you're responsible for making an impact on?
...
JEFF JOHNSON: There are a lot of people that, in many cases, don't think that you've been aggressive enough in talking about the Numbers of African-American men that are overwhelmingly shot vs. white men. Are there ever times when the responsibilities and obligations as president get in the way of how you want to respond as a human?
On GMA, Jon Karl recounted the interview, but only blandly noted, "On BET, President Obama talked about meeting with some of the young people leading the protests in Ferguson and how he can personally relate to their frustrations."
A partial transcript of the BET interview is below:
BET interview
12/8/14
JEFF JOHNSON: The country is concerned about can "we trust police? Are we safe with police? This problem didn't begin under your watch. This is incredibly persistent and pervasive. How much of it does your administration feel you're responsible for making an impact on?
...
JEFF JOHNSON: There are a lot of people that, in many cases, don't think that you've been aggressive enough in talking about the Numbers of African-American men that are overwhelmingly shot vs. white men. Are there ever times when the responsibilities and obligations as president get in the way of how you want to respond as a human?
BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know sometimes peoples concerns are not based on fact, because if you look at after what happened with Michael Brown, if you look at what happened after Trayvon, if you look at the decision Eric Garner, I'm being pretty explicit about my concern, and being pretty explicit about the fact this is a systemic problem that, black folks and Latinos and others are not just making this up. I describe it in very personal terms. I think sometimes what people are frustrated by is me not simply saying, this is what the outcome should have been. And that, I cannot do institutionally.
...
OBAMA: I've said it before. The vast majority of law enforcement officers are doing a really tough job, and most of them are doing it well, and are trying to do the right thing. But, a combination of bad training, in some cases, a combination in some cases of the departments that really are not trying to root out biases or tolerate sloppy police work, a combination, in some cases of folks just not knowing any better, and in a lot of cases, subconscious fear of folks who look different. All of this contributes to a national problem that's going to require a national solution. And you know, what I told the young people who I met with and you know, we are going to have more conversations like this over the coming months, this isn't going to be solved overnight. This is something that is deeply rooted in our society. It's deeply rooted in our history. But the two things that are going to allow us to solve it, number one, is the understanding that we have made progress. And so, it's important to recognize, as painful as these incidents are, we can't equate what is happening now to what was happening 50 years ago. The second thing that I insisted to these young people is we have to be persistent because typically, progress is in steps. It's in increments. You know, when you're dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias in any society, you've got to have vigilance, but you've got to recognize that it's going to take some time, and you just have to be steady so that you don't give up when we don't get all the way there.
JEFF JOHNSON: Very last question, we talked about having daughters, and at one point, those daughters may have children.
OBAMA: Right.
JOHNSON: What's the vision that you have, not necessarily as president of the United States, but as Barack Obama the man, for those children that's different than what Mike Brown, Tamir Rice and others have had to face?
