Dyson: Obama Practiced ‘Racial Procrastination’ in Avoiding the Issue

SCARBOROUGH: “You made a lot of friends in the White House when you said Hillary Clinton would do more for black Americans than Barack Obama.”
DYSON: “Yes.”
SCARBOROUGH: “But you actually had the president talking to you in an interview on this book. What have we learned about race during Barack Obama’s presidency over the past eight years?” 
DYSON: “Well, I mean, obviously he has evolved in his own thinking about race, at least publicly and at least what he has been able to say — forced to say, convinced to say from the bully pulpit --"[crosstalk] 
SCARBOROUGH: “How has he evolved?"
DYSON: "At the beginning he was practicing racial procrastination, a bit hesitant about weighing in. He learned a lesson after speaking about [indecipherable] situation.”
SCARBOROUGH: “I was going to say, if you look at the poll numbers, it’s almost like Americans say, hey, you know what? It’s all right, you being black just don’t talk about it. He talked about it his poll numbers went down.”
DYSON: “He said don't engage in-- he learned that lesson I think unfortunately. Because look, whatever he speaks about he is going to get push back, whether it's  ISIS, the economy, job numbers, whatever it is. The reality is you have to begin to teach. I think he was convinced, forced to — in the situation where he had to speak about it and then what happened when black people became urban proxies for Obama in terms of the rise of racial violence, he became a symbol of black progress, according to actual terrorist Dylan Roof who killed those nine people in Charleston, South Carolina. So there was a social condition in a black movement, the #BlackLivesMatter movement along with principle critique that forced Obama into [indecipherable]—“
SCARBOROUGH: “And president obviously had an attorney general who was obviously very aggressive on these issues."