Shortly after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the holder of Satan’s aux cord during long drives, was convicted in April for murdering George Floyd, Barack and Michelle Obama issued a joint statement noting, “Today a jury in Minneapolis did the right thing.”
The statement also noted that the work wasn’t done.
“True justice requires that we come to terms with the fact that Black Americans are treated differently, every day. It requires us to recognize that millions of our friends, family, and fellow citizens live in fear that their next encounter with law enforcement could be their last.”
Do you hear our forever president and his beautiful wife harmonizing? I love this song.
During an appearance with Gayle King, which aired Friday, the forever first lady noted that her and her husband’s support of the verdict was merely a nod to justice, the way that it should be.
“The goal is to let leaders lead,” Obama said on CBS This Morning. “But in certain times people, you know, look to us often, ‘Well, what do you think? How do you feel? and we know that while we’re all breathing a sigh of relief over the verdict, there’s still work to be done.”
Obama noted that for many Black people, the fear of police brutality and violent racist acts is real.
“We can’t sort of say, ‘Great, that happened, let’s move on,’” she said. “I know that people in the Black community don’t feel that way because many of us still live in fear as we go to the grocery store or worry about walking our dogs or allowing our children to get a license. Just imagine [having] a son right now.”
Obama added that she fears that someone who doesn’t know “everything about them” may assume something about her own children, Sasha and Malia. But she hopes that one day Americans will go deeper on a conversation about race and how it affects those around them.
“We have to talk about it more and we have to ask our fellow citizens to listen a bit more and to believe us and to know that we don’t wanna be out there marching,” she said. “I mean, all those Black Lives Matter kids, they’d rather not have to worry about this. They’re taking to the streets because they have to. They’re trying to have people understand that we’re real folks. And the fear that many have of so many of us is irrational and it’s based on a history that is just, it’s sad and it’s dark and it’s time for us to move beyond that.”