Former President Barack Obama said Friday that he is “inspired” by the young people taking to the streets to protest against racism: “They’re saying we don’t accept the status quo.”
“Those people out on the streets — that’s a sea change,” Obama said in a virtual town hall titled “Mental Health and Wellness in a Racism Pandemic.”
“Older folks I think can learn from young people ― impatience,” the former president said, speaking of the massive protests around the nation and world against systemic racism and police brutality, which are largely being led by young Black activists.
“To see all of the young people ... not just men of color, but Black, white, Latino, Asian American, Native American, all of the young women, standing up, speaking out, being prepared to march,” Lewis said of the current protesters.
Stevenson — who is a death row lawyer and whose organization opened a museum in Alabama dedicated to victims of lynching — spoke of the long legacy of racism impacting generations of Black people in the U.S., from slavery through Jim Crow segregation to today.
