• He wants young people of color to know their lives matter. He views his children and nieces and nephews as having limitless opportunities, and all children of color should have them.
• He wants to acknowledge the police who protect and serve, and especially those who marched with the protesters.
• Reform has to take place at the local level. Mayors and county executives appoint police chiefs. District Attorneys and states' attorneys make charging decisions.
• He has been hearing on the internet a debate between those who want to protest and those who want to participate in solutions. He says this is about both.
• Addressing people of color, he asks: What can we do? He says there are specific evidence-based reforms that have been found yield positive results by the Task Force on 21st century policing (available on his website). Also, he says, every mayor should review their city's use of force procedures and issue a report on what they are doing to enact recommended reforms.
• He says he was young in the 1960's but he has learned a lot about the era. He believes that in comparison to the protesters back then, the protesters for Floyd are a far more representative cross-section of America who have put themselves on the line to bring about change.
• He tells them to follow through. Attention on the issue will go away, and it's important as a country to keep it going.

My view: I don't see much real progress in the past 30 years. The police culture has not changed much. The probem is systemic, embedded within and affecting law enforcement as a whole. That said, there have been protests after every police killing of a person of color in recent memory. Civil rights statutes have been used to prosecute the perpetrators for decades. Why is the reaction so intensified now? Civil rights statutes were used in 1997 to prosecute the white police officers charged in the brutal assault of Haitian Abner Louima, who had a stick shoved up his rectum at the station house by officer Justin Volpe. Louima was in the hospital for two months, sustaining a ruptured colon and bladder. Volpe ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years, which he has been serving in federal prison. His release date, according to the BOP website is January, 2025. Volpe's principal accomplice, Charles Shwarz, was convicted of aiding and abetting (for leading Volpe and Louima into the bathroom) and received a 15 year sentence, later reduced to 5 after the Court of Appeals overturned the verdict and he was tried on new charges. He is now working for the New York City Housing Authority earning more than $100,000. a year.

Two other two officers were acquitted. Abner Louima ultimately accepted a settlement of $8.6 million for the City. According to the NY Times, after Louima, police reforms were instituted (by then commissioner Bernard Kerik).

Politicians campaigned on a platform of "zero tolerance" for police brutality, including one who got Abner Louima to accompany him.

The street protests and reforms that followed Louima's assault hasn't stopped the brutality. There was Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea who was gunned down by four white officers shooting him with 41 bullets. All four were acquitted at trial.

The verdict came in a tense and racially charged case that led to anti-police demonstrations, arrests and a reorganization of the department's Street Crime Unit, to which the officers belonged.

...Mr. Sharpton also asked for calm, saying, ''Those who believe in Amadou should not betray his memory by acting like those who killed him.'' Outside the courthouse, Kadiatou Diallo, Amadou's mother, said, ''I ask for your calm and prayers.'' She added, ''As we go on for the quest of justice, life, equality -- I thank you all.''

Community activists today are making the same plea in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. There have been street protests after each tragedy, followed by promises of reform. And yet we have seem to still be stuck on square one.

I do agree there is a difference now, and a heightened sense of urgency. There's also an increased joinder of diverse cultures, genders and races in the quest for equal justice, and much greater participation by white people.

I think the killing of George Floyd is the major reason for the increased participation in protests, but I also believe some of it is attributable to the uncertainty and disarray everyone has encountered the past few months in their personal and economic lives due to the coronavirus and the delayed and inadequate response of those in charge.

We are all living in a form of free-fall: will we get back to work and if not, how will we find similar jobs; brick and mortar stores and restaurants ask when will people feel safe enough to shop and eat out and how can they sustain a business operating at 1/4 of their normal capacity; Musicians, even wealthy ones, want to know if and when people will start attending concerts again; entertainers (talk show hosts) want to know when live audiences will be restored (it's just not entertaining or funny when they come to us from their garage with no laughing and they know it); the elderly (now deemed to comprise people over 60) want to know if they will ever be free of risk of the virus or be able to participate in group and family events without fear of contracting it. It's not just that normal is gone, it's that no one knows what will replace it.

On a related note: Whatever one's reason for protesting, I have learned that it is important for white people to refrain from telling black people that we feel their pain or know what they are going through. We have no clue. This is their battle, and we should support them and listen to them, express our solidarity and let them know we support whatever solution they think best. Almost all of us white people would also benefit from educating ourselves on the history of racism in America. We will never be able to feel what Blacks feel having faced generations of discrimination and denial of equal rights and opportunities to succeed, but we can learn from the wrongs of our government and society and express our support for whatever course of action they determine to be appropriate.

Listening is hard work. Most of us would rather talk. But we have to learn to listen and really hear our African-American friends and their community leaders as they express their anguish and their frustration at how their lives have been adversely impacted by discrimination. We must support the protesters and not get distracted by a few incidents of violence or looting. We must realize that the problem doesn't lie with a few rogue officers, but is deeply engrained in our society and our government. We must all be willing to act in support of our knowledge and to teach our children more than we were taught.

So for me, Obama's suggestions don't go far enough. It's society, not just the police and military who need to change. The criminal justice system is a good place to start, as we need to end the arbitrary enforcement of our criminal laws, from bail to charging decisions to rooting out unconscious bias among prospective jurors. Check out this video that the federal court in the District of Western Washington now plays to each group of prospcective jurors who show up for service.

But the criminal justice system is just one branch on the tree of injustices African- Americans face in this country. They don't share equal access to medical care. They have fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace, are often stuck in low-paying jobs and make less money. They lack access to educational opportunities the rest of us take for granted. I think all of us would agree that every African-American child must be provided the same opportunity to succeed as a white child, so why hasn't it happened?

Change at the local level is fine, but we need also need to clean house at the top -- starting with getting rid of Donald Trump. Whether he shares the views of his under-informed supporters or not, he uses his campaign rallies to encourage their prejudices.

America is a rudderless ship right now. In addition to the senseless and tragic death of George Floyd and the never-ending problem of the overuse of force by law enforcement, we are still facing the coronavirus, the economic uncertainty of not knowing where our next paycheck will come from, and our distrust of the man in charge who is unwilling and incapable of serving as a leader to whom we can look for stability, security, reassurance and inspiration.

I have no idea how this will all end. But we get the government we elect. Listen, learn and take the right path, not just for ourselves but for each other.