Obama Says ‘Inspiring’ Protesters Deserve Nation’s Respect

Former President Barack Obama said Monday the overwhelming majority of protests nationwide against police brutality have been “peaceful, courageous, responsible, and inspiring.”

“They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation,” Mr. Obama wrote in an essay on Medium.com.

He said a “small minority” of protesters engaging in violence, “whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism … are detracting from the larger cause.”

“Let’s not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it,” Mr. Obama said. “If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves.”

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The Obama administration was accused of failing to address killings of law-enforcement officers amid the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, which itself was a response to killings of minorities by police.

Mr. Obama created a task force on 21st Century policing in 2014, which developed recommendations for police reforms that were adopted by a small percentage of departments.

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