During a London town hall meeting on Saturday, President Obama gave activists in the Black Lives Matter movement some unwanted criticism.
The president says:
“Once you’ve highlighted an issue and brought it to people’s attention and shined a spotlight, and elected officials or people who are in a position to start bringing about change are ready to sit down with you, then you can’t just keep on yelling at them,” Obama said. “And you can’t refuse to meet because that might compromise the purity of your position. The value of social movements and activism is to get you at the table, get you in the room.”
BLM activists have been actively involved in the 2016 election. There have been many occasions when activists have disrupted rallies and speeches. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have all been interrupted by protesters in the past few months.
The president was on a European tour when he delivered the speech Saturday.
