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"I don't think that is typical of what happens across the country, but it's not an isolated incident," Obama said in an interview taped Sunday that aired Friday on SiriusXM's "Urban View" channel.

"I think there are circumstances in which trust between communities and law enforcement have broken down, and individuals or entire departments may not have the training or the accountability to make sure they are protecting serving all people, and not just some."

Obama's comments were his first public reaction to a shocking report from the Justice Department revealing a range of abuses committed against African American residents by the Ferguson police force. In the aftermath of racial unrest and widespread protests following the death of Ferguson resident Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, at the hands of a white Ferguson police officer, the White House announced the creation of a task force force on 21st century policing.

The group presented their findings this week and the President said he will be moving forward with that agenda.

READ: Ferguson police report: Most shocking parts

His Friday interview was focused around the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, and Obama's trip to Selma Saturday to mark the occasion. Obama emphasized the importance of voting rights as the seminal issue of the civil rights movement and called on Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act. But he also called on African Americans to vote in bigger numbers, saying that statistics showing that only half or one-third of African Americans vote are "not living up to the legacy that has been presented."

And he argued that the march on Selma, and the civil rights movement as a whole, extends to the rights of the children of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally, as well as gay Americans.

"The notion that say some young kid who was brought here when he was 2 or 3 years old might somehow be deported at the age of 20 or 25, even though they've grown up as Americans that's not who we are. That's not true to the spirit of what the march on Selma was about," Obama said.

"The idea that we would discriminate against people with different sexual orientations, the basic concept was everybody has to be treated equally under the law, not that you have to, that everybody has to have an equal lifestyle."

The civil rights movement, he said, "didn't just open door for black folks, it wasn't just about black folks, it was about America."

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Obama: Ferguson police abuse 'not an isolated incident'

President Obama said he has "complete confidence and stand fully behind" the Justice Department's decision not to charge the white Ferguson police officer who killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, but criticized the police department for a "pattern and practice" of racial discrimination.

"If there is uncertainty about what happened, then you can't just charge him anyway just because what happened was tragic," Obama said.

Darren Wilson, who is white, shot and killed Brown after a physical altercation in Ferguson, Missouri last August. Several witnesses initially said Brown's hands were up when he was shot, sparking massive and sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and across the country.

Those claims have not been proven, and Wilson said he feared for his life during the confrontation with the 18-year-old.

The Justice Department cleared Wilson concluding there was "no credible evidence that Wilson willfully shot Brown as he was attempting to surrender or was otherwise not posing a threat."

"We may never know exactly what happened" Obama said during a town hall at the Historically Black Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. "But Officer Wilson, like anyone else who is charged with a crime benefits from due process and a reasonable doubt standard."

The president also addressed a second Justice Department report released Wednesday that found the Ferguson Police Department had a "pattern and practice" of discriminating against African Americans.

"It was an oppressive and abusive situation," he said.

"What we saw was that the Ferguson Police Department in conjunction with municipality, saw traffic stops, arrests, tickets as a revenue generator as opposed to serving the community," Obama said. "It wasn't like folks were making it up," he added.

Obama's comments come the day before he and the first family will travel to Selma, Alabama to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" in the 1965 march that helped lead to the Voting Rights Act. It will be his first trip to Selma as President.

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Obama Defends Justice Department on Ferguson

WASHINGTON President Obama flies to Selma on Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic civil-rights marches that transformed the nation and this time, hes bringing his daughters.

For them to be able to see this place where, at a crossroads in our history, the kind of America that we all believe in was championed and ultimately vindicated thats a powerful thing, Obama told a radio interviewer Friday.

Up to 100,000 visitors are expected at the commemoration, including Obamas wife, Michelle; former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura; and 95 members of Congress.

Its an annual pilgrimage, both for politicians who want to pay tribute to the events that helped spur passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and to those who participated in or were moved by the Bloody Sunday attack at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

On March 7, 1965, Alabama state troopers and a mounted posse attacked protesters at the bridge, using clubs, bullwhips and tear gas to break up the march. Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. led a second march but had to turn back.

Then, on March 21, 1965, after federal intervention and national horror at police tactics, a much larger procession made it across and continued to Montgomery.

For Obama, having his kids there makes the event more meaningful, he told radio host Tom Joyner.

This was just yesterday basically, Obama said. It wasnt way back in the past. This just happened. And the people who were there are still around.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who sustained a fractured skull on Bloody Sunday 50 years ago and who helps organize the annual commemoration event, will be there.

When I go back, I remember, the bridge for me is almost a sacred place. Because thats where some of us gave a little blood and where some people almost died, Lewis told NBCs Meet the Press. But that bridge, what happened on that Sunday have changed America forever.

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Obama bringing daughters to Selma for anniversary march

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Racial discrimination from police in Ferguson, Missouri, was "oppressive and abusive," President Barack Obama said Friday as he called for criminal justice reform as part of the modern struggle for civil rights.

"It turns out they weren't just making it up. This was happening," Obama said during a town hall at South Carolina's Benedict College, the day before he prepared to commemorate a half-century since the historic civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama.

In his most expansive comments yet about the Justice Department's report on bias against blacks in Ferguson, Obama said it was striking that investigators merely had to look at email sent by police officials to find evidence. He said the City of Ferguson now must make a decision about how to move forward.

"Are they going to enter into some sort of agreement with the Justice Department to fix what is clearly a broken and racially biased system?" Obama said.

A Justice Department investigation found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices within the Ferguson Police Department. Ferguson city leaders are to meet with Justice Department officials in about two weeks to put forth an improvement plan.

The president himself was the subject of some of the racist emails from Ferguson police and municipal courts employees uncovered in the investigation. A 2008 email said Obama would not be president for long because "what black man holds a steady job for four years," while another depicted Obama as a chimpanzee.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who accompanied Obama on the trip, told reporters the federal government will "use all the power that we have to change the situation there," including possibly dismantling the police force. "If that's what's necessary we're prepared to do that," Holder said.

Holder said surprised is not a strong enough word for his reaction to the report, which he said revealed "appalling" practices. He said other police departments should understand the intensity of feelings across the federal government in terms of making sure what's transpired in Ferguson doesn't happen elsewhere, although he called the Ferguson bias "an anomaly." ''That is not something that we're going to tolerate," Holder said.

The Justice Department this week also cleared Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, while on duty in a St. Louis suburb in August. Brown's death prompted massive street protests last year and triggered the Justice Department investigations.

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Obama: Ferguson report exposed racially biased system

TIME Politics White House Kevin LamarqueReuters U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during an exclusive interview with Reuters in the Library of the White House in Washington on March 2, 2015.

President Obama said Friday that the work begun by civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama fifty years ago is still not complete, as he prepares to visit the town this weekend on the anniversary of the historic march.

This is an unfinished project, the President said in an interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show on Friday. I say to my daughters the same thing I say to the young people who work for me, and that is it is a glorious task that we are given to continually try to improve this great country of ours.

The President cited the the Department of Justices scathing report on the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department released this week as evidence that the country still had work to do on civil rights for black Americans. In the report, patterns of racial bias and unfair treatment of black residents was brought to light in the wake of the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer.

There is, you know, work to be done right now, Obama said.

The President gave the interview as the First Family prepares to travel to Selma to commemorate the half-century anniversary of the historic march that helped push lawmakers to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The anniversary is being met with much fanfare: the President will speak on Saturday and lead a march on the Edmund Pettus bridge. Luminaries and politicians, including former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, will be in attendance.

In his Saturday speech, the President is likely to discuss Ferguson and the lingering battle to protect voting rights in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that struck down a part of the very act that will be celebrated. Hell note the work of Congressman John Lewis, who was a student organizer and on the front lines on March 7, 1965, also known as Bloody Sunday. Yet, the President said Friday the great thing about Selma is it celebrates all those folks who dont have their name on a plaque or a statue.

It wasnt just Dr. King making a great speech, although I think he is an icon for the ages. It wasnt just John Lewis, although I dont know of a more courageous or a sweet man than him, Obama said. But it was also just people who went back to their lives after it was done.

And though the President said he talks to his daughters about what work needs to be done to improve the U.S., he doesnt think theyll take the same route he took to get it done.

I am very doubtful that they will want to run for public office, you know, said Obama. Partly because theyve been listening to their mother.

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Obama Says Civil Rights in U.S. Unfinished Project Ahead of Selma Speech