NYTimes | President Obama
offered an indirect critique of the Black Lives Matter movement during a
town-hall-style event here on Saturday, encouraging activists to engage
with the political process and cautioning them that social change can
be a slow and incremental process.
At a meeting with young people
on the second day of his visit to Europe, during which he championed a
new trade deal between the United States and the European Union, the
president took questions on a variety of topics, including Northern
Ireland, transgender rights and racial profiling.
After
responding to a questioner who suggested that his administration had
not done enough to address racial profiling at airports — a practice
that Mr. Obama said he adamantly opposed — the president turned his
attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.
He
praised the movement as “really effective in bringing attention to
problems,” but said young activists should be more willing to work with
political leaders to craft solutions instead of criticizing from outside
the political process.
“Once
you’ve highlighted an issue and brought it to people’s attention and
shined a spotlight, and elected officials or people who are in a
position to start bringing about change are ready to sit down with you,
then you can’t just keep on yelling at them,” Mr. Obama said.
“And
you can’t refuse to meet because that might compromise the purity of
your position,” he continued. “The value of social movements and
activism is to get you at the table, get you in the room, and then to
start trying to figure out how is this problem going to be solved.”
