--- title: Ferguson: Barack Obama in Race Spotlight After Michael Brown Death description: An issue he's been notoriously uncomfortable opening up about canonical: https://time.com/3136267/ferguson-michael-brown-barack-obama/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-18T16:49:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:52.962Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ferguson: Barack Obama in Race Spotlight After Michael Brown Death og:description: An issue he's been notoriously uncomfortable opening up about og:url: https://time.com/3136267/ferguson-michael-brown-barack-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d5e01fca4ee8f28/69869fe406f2c1bd553305a4/ferguson-lowenstein-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ferguson-lowenstein-obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ferguson: Barack Obama in Race Spotlight After Michael Brown Death twitter:description: An issue he's been notoriously uncomfortable opening up about twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d5e01fca4ee8f28/69869fe406f2c1bd553305a4/ferguson-lowenstein-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ferguson Violence Again Puts Obama in the Spotlight on Race ## Video: Ferguson's Countdown to Curfew [Watch (HLS stream): Ferguson's Countdown to Curfew](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7TmLGuKX.m3u8) (5:10)  _Published 2014-08-17. Countdown to Curfew compress_ by [Zeke Miller](/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 18, 2014 4:49 PM CUT  Protestors call for President Barack Obama to come to Ferguson during a peaceful rally in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014. Protestors call for President Barack Obama to come to Ferguson during a peaceful rally in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—NOOR for TIME by [Zeke Miller](/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 18, 2014 4:49 PM CUT As violence raged in Ferguson, Mo., last week, President Barack Obama was hobnobbing with high-class political friends at an exclusive country club. On Sunday night, as the situation on the ground hit new lows, he and First Lady Michelle Obama were enjoying a jazz concert followed by dinner on Martha’s Vineyard, where they were vacationing. The death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a white police officer, and the subsequent violence by police and protesters, has once again put Obama on defense over his handling of crisis situations, coming under fire from all corners of the political spectrum for a slow response to the controversy. In recent days, Obama has faced calls to visit Ferguson first-hand to see the violence and attempt to bring about a peaceful end to it. But Obama, wary of being seen as diverting law enforcement resources, is unlikely to make the trip until the situation calms down. White House aides said Obama has been repeatedly briefed on the situation, most recently by senior advisor Valerie Jarrett on Sunday after the latest escalation. On Thursday, the President offered a brief statement appealing for calm in Ferguson and delivering an indirect rebuke to the heavy-handed tactics of local police. Obama flew back from Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday for previously scheduled meetings. He is set to be briefed by Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday afternoon and may address the crisis again later Monday. But with the violence raging in Ferguson set against the backdrop of the nation’s continued struggle to overcome its history of racial division, Obama is once again on the hot seat over an issue he’s been notoriously uncomfortable opening up about. Obama’s memoir, _Dreams from My Father_, explored the his tortured relationship with race, with the future President writing of a difficult upbringing and the challenges of trying to find himself. The coming-of-age story is full of Obama’s personal frustrations and lapses as he tries to navigate his own complicated identity. He sought out work as a community organizer partly as a result of that internal struggle. By 2004, Obama offered himself as an example of a burgeoning post-racial America, recounting his personal narrative as the son of a Kenyan student and a Kansas anthropologist. “I stand here today grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters,” Obama said in the Democratic National Convention keynote speech that would catapult him to the national stage. “I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.” For the next four years, Obama toed a careful line, casting his campaign as historic but rarely acknowledging why. When he announced his candidacy for the White House, Obama only alluded to President Abraham Lincoln affirming “that beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.” But the sermons of one-time Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright brought race back to the forefront, and opened the door for Obama’s most eloquent and developed remarks on race. After initially trying to downplay Wright’s impact, the Obama campaign picked the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia as the location for the detailed speech on race, titled “A More Perfect Union.” “Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now,” Obama said, calling for a national conversation on both the progress made since the Civil Rights era and the work as yet to be done. But once in office, Obama abandoned that conversation for more pressing priorities, from the economy to health care to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq. His race, he hoped, would be a footnote to his policy agenda. And when he did try to engage in that conversation, he got burned. In 2009, the President hastily waded into the controversy surrounding the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his Cambridge home, saying the officer involved had ” acted stupidly” by arresting the scholar, before walking it back under fire from police groups. He convened a “beer summit” between the two men involved in an effort to put out the flames. By the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, Obama conveyed an emotional—if not policy-minded—approach to the controversy. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Obama said, while saying he would stay out of the substance of the case while the Department of Justice carried out its investigation. In May 2013, delivering the commencement address at Morehouse College, Obama came under fire from some in the black community for a lecturing tone to predominantly-black audiences. “Well, we’ve got no time for excuses—not because the bitter legacies of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they haven’t,” Obama told graduates. “Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; we know those are still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with millions of young people from China and India and Brazil, many of whom started with a whole lot less than all of you did, all of them entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything that you haven’t earned. And moreover you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured—and they overcame, and if they overcame them, you can overcome them too.” But when George Zimmerman was acquitted in Martin’s killing months later, Obama marked a new era in his public approach to race, speaking out in strikingly personal terms about his own upbringing and the challenges facing the nation. In a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, Obama declared that “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” and spoke openly about hearing the sound of doors locking as he walked down a street, even as a senator. “There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race—I haven’t seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations,” Obama said, referencing his own experiences. “They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the positions they already have.” But the Martin tragedy set the Obama Administration’s consideration of policy solutions into high gear. With the clock ticking until he leaves office, Obama and Holder are attempting to [seize the opportunity](http://time.com/7080/obamas-legacy-project/ "undefined") to reform the nation’s criminal justice system from within, while using the of the bully pulpit to promote personal and family responsibility within the black community. ### Witness Tension Between Police and Protestors in Ferguson, Mo.  A man backs away as law enforcement officials close in on him and eventually detain him during protests over the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager killed by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 11, 2014. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux  Riot police force protestors from the business district into nearby neighborhoods in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  A child uses a rag to shield his face from tear gas fired by riot police, who used it to force protestors from the business district into nearby neighborhoods in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police officers keep watch from an armored vehicle as they patrol a street in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 11, 2014 Mario Anzuoni—Reuters  Police officers ride an armored vehicle as they patrol a street in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Mario Anzuoni—Reuters  A demonstrator raises his hands in front of of a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Mario Anzuoni—Reuters  Riot police lock down a neighborhood in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  People raise their hands in the middle of the street as riot police move toward their position trying to get them to disperse, in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014. Jeff Roberson—AP  Demonstrators raise their hands and chant "hands up, don't shoot" during a protest over the killing of Michael Brown on in Clayton, Mo. on August 12, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton speaks about the killing of teenager Michael Brown at a press conference held on the steps of the old courthouse in St. Louis on Aug. 12, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police take up position to control demonstrators who were protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 12, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Demonstrators protest the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on August 12, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Demonstrators protest the killing of teenager Michael Brown outside Greater St. Marks Family Church in St. Louis on Aug. 12, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Police stand watch as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT/Zuma Press  Police officers work their way north on West Florissant Avenue clearing the road of people in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  People run through smoke in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. Jeff Roberson—AP  A protester takes shelter from smoke billowing around him in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  An explosive device deployed by police flies in the air as police and protesters clash in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 13, 2014 Jeff Roberson—AP  Thousands of demonstrators peacefully march to the spot where Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Jeff Roberson—AP  Demetrus Washington joins other demonstrators protesting the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Demonstrators protest outside of Greater St. Marks Family Church in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Protesters light candles as they take part in a peaceful demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson (L) speaks to protesters as he walks through a peaceful demonstration as communities continue to react to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  A young child looks out from a car as demonstrators drive down West Florissant Avenue protesting the shooting and death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 15, 2014. Scott Olson—Getty Images  A demonstrator walks through smoke launched by police after a skirmish in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 15, 2014 Scott Olson—Getty Images  A demonstrator protests on Florissant Ave in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—NOOR for TIME  Children walk past police officers during a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  Protestors help a man who was injured by tear gas thrown by police after refusing to disperse after the midnight curfew in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  Protestors throw canisters in Ferguson, Mo. on August 18, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  Protestors demonstrate against the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. on August 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—NOOR for TIME  A protestor during demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. on August 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  A protestor retaliates against police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  A protestor throws a canister of tear gas back at police during demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  Police wait to advance after tear gas was used to dispersed a crowd in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Charlie Riedel—AP  A protestor holds a sign that reads "stop killing us" amid clouds of tear gas in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME  Police wait to advance after tear gas was used to disperse a crowd in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Charlie Riedel—AP  Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air during a demonstration in Ferguson on Aug. 17, 2014\. The "hands up, don't shoot" pose became the defining gesture of the protests. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Protesters attempt to treat a woman who was in a cloud of tear gas thrown by police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Demonstrators march down West Florissant Ave. during a peaceful march in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown near Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Demonstrators march down West Florissant during a peaceful march in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown, near Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Police tackle a man who was walking down the street in front of McDonald's in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Laurie Skrivan—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP  Law enforcement officers watch on during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  Demonstrators cover their faces as tear gas fills the air as police fire the gas against an unruly crowd protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug.18, 2014 Joe Raedle—Getty Images  A protestor wearing a gas mask stands with his hands up while facing armed police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Abe Van Dyke—Demotix/Corbis  Police fire tear gas in the direction of where bottles were thrown from crowds gathered near the QuikTrip on W. Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch/Polaris  Demonstrators stand in the middle of West Florissant as they react to tear gas fired by police during ongoing protests in reaction to the shooting of teenager Michael Brown, near Ferguson, Missouri, August 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Demonstrators protest against the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters  A police officer in riot gear detains a demonstrator protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters  Police officers in riot gear watch demonstrators protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown from the side of a building in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters  Two protesters sit with their faces covered during a peaceful protest in Ferguson, Mo. early on Aug. 20, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images  A man is doused with milk and sprayed with mist after being hit by an eye irritant from security forces trying to disperse demonstrators in Ferguson, Mo. early on Aug. 20, 2014. Adrees Latif—Reuters  In this photo taken with a long exposure, protesters march in the street as lightning flashes in the distance in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 20, 2014. 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