Obama laments inability to eliminate racial bias

Team Udayavani, Oct 15, 2020, 8:49 AM IST

Washington: Former President Barack Obama says his administration’s inability to eliminate racial bias in the criminal justice system may have left some Americans “skeptical about what the government can do.”

Obama was asked on an episode of “Pod Save America” released Wednesday night about what he would say to anyone still deciding whether to vote in next month’s presidential election — especially young people and minorities.

“Some of them may have been frustrated about my failure to have completely transformed the criminal justice system to eliminate racial bias,” Obama responded.

“Part of that is because 90 per cent of criminal sentencing typically is taking place at the state rather than the federal level.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has vowed to address institutional racism in the criminal justice system during his first 100 days in office.

Obama didn’t address that goal specifically but said government can’t solve some of the nation’s most ingrained problems “overnight.”

Still, Obama said that’s no reason not to cast a ballot.

“The idea that you’d give away your power because you”re not getting 100 per cent when you could get 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent better, that doesn’t make any sense,” he said.