President Barack Obama Talks with BET About Unrest Following Grand Jury Decisions On Fatal Shootings [Video]
In an exclusive interview with BET News, President Barack Obama addressed community concerns and calls for justice and equality after recent grand jury decisions and hopes to find meaningful solutions.
"This isn't going to be solved overnight," Obama said in an excerpt of the interview released by BET Networks.
BET’s “106 & Park” will air a portion of the interview at 5 p.m. EST Monday (Dec. 8), BET Networks announced Sunday. The full interview will air immediately following at 6 p.m. EST Monday in “BET News Presents: A Conversation with President Barack Obama.”
Obama's interview with BET News' Jeff Johnson, taped Friday at The White House in Washington, D.C., marks his first network TV interview in which he shares his thoughts on events sparking major protests across the U.S., including in Grand Rapids at Grand Valley State University and in Kalamazoo at Western Michigan University.
He hopes to help find solutions to quell the unrest after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of white police officers. Garner, 43, died after a police officer placed him in choke hold while attempting to arrest him in July in Staten Island, N.Y. Brown, 18, was fatally shot in August.
"This is something that's deeply rooted in our society, deeply rooted in our history," Obama said. "But the two things that will allow us to solve it: Number one: Is the understanding that we have made progress and so it's important to recognize that as painful as these instances are, we can't equate what's happening now with what was happening 50 years ago. If you talk to your parents, grandparents, uncles, they'll tell you that things are better."