Former President Barack Obama called on all mayors to review their use-of-force policies and commit to policing reform in a virtual town hall Wednesday hosted by the Obama Foundation’s My Brothers Keepers Alliance.
Why it matters: Obama has addressed the killing of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed on social media and in a Medium post, but this was his first time speaking about the past week’s events on camera.
The big picture: Obama praised young people — specifically young people of color — for taking to the streets.
Obama compared the events and protests of the past few weeks to the chaos of the 1960s, during the height of the civil rights movement.
The bottom line: “[W]hen sometimes I feel despair, I just see what’s happening with young people all across the country,” Obama said.
