Letter: Was Obama biased?

One often-cited negative theme regarding Barack Obama’s presidency is that race relations have gotten worse. Why did this happen?

I would offer that while Obama was born of a white mother and black father (actually making him biracial, not black) he chose to embrace his black heritage and shun his white heritage. Was this done by choice, perceived advantage, political reasons — only he knows.

Remember back to his first months in office when police arrested a professor friend and he quickly called the incident “stupid” and prejudged the officer as typically overreacting to a black person. Once the facts were known he was forced to have a “beer conference” at the White House to smooth things over. Was this a harbinger of future events?

Over his presidency, when there were a high-profile incidents of white police officer(s) or civilian(s) oppressing a black person(s), Obama was quick to point out how prejudices still existed and American society needed to change and be accountable for its actions. And he is right, police departments and individuals should be held accountable when their actions are detrimental to the liberties of others.

However, when there were incidents of black individuals oppressing white individuals or black against black incidents, rarely did you hear the same indignation or call for accountability. I believe if ,during his presidency, Obama was not so biased toward his black heritage and held blacks as accountable, he would have contributed greatly to healing, not widening, the racial tensions that exist in our country.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Letter: Was Obama biased?."