Former first couple Barack and Michelle Obama allude to the racial backlashes they received after taking over the White House in 2008 in their record-breaking memoirs, A Promised Land and Becoming, respectively.
It was, therefore, apropos that the couple would speak out about the killing of yet another unarmed Black man by a White police officer.
“Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police,” the Obamas said in a statement obtained by CNN.
Wright was shot and killed in a suburb outside Minneapolis on Sunday, April 11, 2021, after he tried to flee officers attempted to arrest him on an outstanding warrant. According to authorities, the former police officer who fired the fatal shot, Kimberly Potter, supposedly thought she was reaching for her stun gun but instead grabbed her firearm and pulled the trigger.
The shooting took place in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, about 10 miles northwest from where George Floyd died after ex-cop Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.
“The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and reliving the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country,” the Obama’s statement reads.
The Obamas said they “grieve alongside the Wright family for their loss.”
They added: “We empathize with the pain that Black mothers, fathers, and children are feeling after yet another senseless tragedy. And we will continue to work with all fair-minded Americans to confront historical inequities and bring about nationwide changes that are so long overdue.”
