TOPLINE
Former President Barack Obama on Friday weighed in on the death of George Floyd, saying in a statement “this shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America.”
President Barack Obama delivers the eulogy for South Carolina Representative and Reverend Clementa … [+] Pinckney at Pinckney’s funeral on June 26, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
KEY FACTS
Obama recounted how a friend, a middle-aged African American businessman, emailed him to say, “I cried when I saw that video. It broke me down. The ‘knee on the neck’ is a metaphor for how the system holds black folks down, ignoring the cries for help. People don’t care. Truly tragic.”
“It’s natural for me to wish for life ‘to just get back to normal’ as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us,” Obama said, “but we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal.’”
But, he added, “this shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal.’ If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.”
He called on Minnesota officials to ensure that Floyd’s death is “investigated thoroughly” and that “justice is ultimately done.”
He also said Americans should “work together to create a ‘new normal,’ in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions and our hearts.”
Obama’s comments stand in contrast to those of President Trump, who called the video of Floyd’s death a “shocking sight” and “not good,” before threatening to send in the military to quell protests in response to the death on Friday morning.
KEY BACKGROUND
Video surfaced Wednesday of an incident on Monday in which a Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes while he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” The video sparked violent protests across the country.
Big number
78%. A YouGov poll released Friday found that 78% of Americans believe the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck should be arrested.
