Obama Reacts To Grand Jury Decision In Eric Garner Case

Barack Obama reacted to the grand jury in New York opting to not to bring criminal charges in the case of Eric Garner with an extended statement.

“It is incumbent upon all of us as Americans, regardless of race, region, faith, that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a Native American problem; this is an American problem.

“When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that’s a problem. And it’s my job as president to help solve it,” he said.

The Justice Department under Eric Holder also announced a pending civil rights investigation into the matter.

Obama said the Garner case speaks “to the larger issues we’ve been talking about now for the last week, the last month, the last year and sadly for decades.”

“Unfortunately, we are seeing too many incidences where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly,” Obama said.