Dyson: Obama Needs To ‘Step Up’ and Become More Involved in Ferguson

Michael Eric Dyson: Obama Needs to ‘Step Up’ on Ferguson (Mediaite)

Michael Eric Dyson told Face the Nation Sunday morning that President Barack Obama needed to more forcefully address the underlying issues at play in the metastasizing situation in Ferguson, MO. Dyson criticized local law enforcement and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) as well.

“I yearn for more response from the White House,” Dyson said. “This president knows better than most what happens in poor communities that have been antagonized historically by the hostile relationship between black people and the police department. It is not enough for him to come on national television and pretend there is a false moral equivalency between police people who are armed and black people who are vulnerable constantly to this.”

“He needs to use his bully pulpit to step up and articulate this as a vision,” Dyson continued. “Not necessarily in terms of public policy alone, because [Attorney General] Eric Holder is doing a tremendous job in filling in those gaps. But we need presidential leadership. He needs to step up to the plate and be responsible.”