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Holy MonK Predicts Obama Will win the Election on Nov 4th 2008 Keith Olbermann Rachel Madd
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he doesn #39;t know yet if he #39;ll launch a 2012 presidential bid. Hillary Kucinich obama Biden Mccain Keith Olbermann Rachel Maddow Palin Richardson...

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Holy MonK Predicts Obama Will win the Election on Nov 4th 2008 Keith Olbermann Rachel Madd - Video

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 Friday during a town hall with students at South Carolina's Benedict College.

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. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson, sparking further protests.

The Justice Department also 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, South Carolina. "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 Justice Department report released Wednesday that found the Ferguson Police Department had a "pattern and practice" of discriminating against black residents.

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

"What we saw was that the Ferguson Police Department in conjunction with the 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.

Two Ferguson city officials were suspended and resigned Friday, and one was fired after racist emails were uncovered in the Justice Department's report.

More:
Obama Has 'Full Confidence' in DOJ's Michael Brown Decision

"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.

Read this article:
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