"We shouldn't get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are asking for fair treatment are somehow automatically anti-police, are trying to only look out for black lives as opposed to others," Obama said. "The phrase 'Black Lives Matter' simply refers to the notion that there's a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It's not meant to suggest that other lives don't matter. It's to suggest that other folks aren't experiencing this particular vulnerability." 


"This isn't a matter of us versus them, but it's a matter of all of us, together as Americans working to solve this problem, then I think we will solve it," he continued. "It's going to take a while to get to the point where we want to be. But nobody's more hopeful than me."

President Obama