Obama: Optimism to overcome America's 'original sin'
In his first on-camera remarks regarding the unrest of the past week, Democratic President Barack Obama praised protesters for making the "kinds of epic changes and events in our country that are as profound as everything that I’ve seen in my lifetime".
The first black US president said that he saw reason for optimism despite the pain reflected in recent days and urged young people, especially, to vote for changes.
"Although all of us have been feeling pain uncertainty and disruption, some folks have been feeling it more than others," he said.
Obama adds that the recent protests are the direct "result of a long history of slavery and Jim Crow [laws] and red lining and institutionalised racism that have too often been the plague, the original sin, of our society".
He also called on US mayors and local officials to review police tactics.
While in office, the former president also faced protests spurred by police brutality against Americans of colour, and was himself criticised for characterising demonstrators as "criminals and thugs".