President Barack Obama said on Saturday while speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner in Washington that “there is no contradiction” in supporting America’s police forces and wanting criminal justice reform.
“I just want to repeat, because somehow this never gets on the TV: There is no contradiction between us caring about our law enforcement officers and also making sure that our laws are applied fairly,” Obama said. “We want to protect our police officers. We’ll do a better job doing it if our communities can feel confident that they are being treated fairly. I hope I’m making that clear.”
Obama’s speech also highlighted the achievements of black women in the fight for civil rights.
“Women were the foot soldiers. Women strategized boycotts. Women organized marches,” he said. “Even if they weren’t allowed to run the civil rights organizations on paper, behind the scenes they were the thinkers and the doers making things happen each and every day, doing the work that no one else wanted to do.”
Watch the full remarks, from the White House, below:
h/t The Hill
