( CNN ) -- Over the past two days , President Barack Obama has finally weighed in on the tragic shooting of Michael Brown , as well as the wave of protests that emerged in its aftermath . In an official White House statement on Wednesday and a brief speech from Martha 's Vineyard on Thursday , the President played his usual role of `` the uniter , '' preaching calm and healing to the American public . I wish he 'd just said nothing . To be clear , I did n't have any unrealistic expectations for Obama . I did n't expect him to pump a black fist in solidarity or scream `` fight the power '' from the makeshift press room . I did n't even need him to take a clear side on the issue . I did , however , expect him to tell the truth . Instead , the President delivered a polite but ultimately dangerous message to the American public . Noticeably absent from President Obama 's remarks was the issue of race . Despite Ferguson being 68 % black , Ferguson 's police force is nearly all white . Blacks in the town comprise 86 % of all vehicle stops and 85 % of all arrests . Over the past week , black residents of the town have complained of racial harassment from law enforcement . That , combined with the trend of unarmed black men being the victims of extrajudicial killings , makes the racial implications of Brown 's death quite strong . Even if one were to believe that Michael Brown 's killing had nothing to do with race -- a naÃ¯ve position at best -- the wave of protests and debates that emerged after it happened have been undeniably racial . By not mentioning this racial dimension , the President reinforced the immature notion that racism can be defeated simply by pretending it does n't exist . Full coverage on Ferguson shooting . Rather than leading the nation into a new level of racial understanding and dialogue , the President took the safe path through the door of post-racial rhetoric . Obama has also placed the highest priority on remaining calm . While this may seem reasonable on its face , particularly against the backdrop of rioting and looting , his words failed to acknowledge the legitimacy of black anger . Black people die violent deaths way out of proportion to their numbers , sometimes killed by rogue cops and even more often each other . Why would we not be angry ? Opinion : Obama needs to lead on racial profiling legislation . But unlike black-on-black violence , which is tragic but typically punished through proper legal channels , killings of unarmed young people by law enforcement continue to happen with impunity . Instead of acknowledging the legitimacy of black anger over this , the President simply told us to calm down and stop looting . In doing so , he joined the chorus of far too many politicians and civil rights leaders who understate and trivialize righteous anger in order to show the public that they have `` the people '' under control . Perhaps most frustrating , however , was the president 's insistence on using the language of equivalence when describing the rioting . Similar to his `` Philadelphia Compromise '' speech on race back in in 2008 , where he ignored the legacy of white supremacy and placed the racial frustrations of white and black Americans on equal historical tiers , Obama chided both black rioters and Ferguson police with the same moral tone . The President ignored the fact that the militarized Ferguson police force were the antagonists of the unrest , in both shooting the unarmed Brown and then using excessive force during the protests . In doing so , he ( perhaps unwittingly ) supported the narrative in some quarters of well-intentioned police officers whose hands were forced by violent natives .
In Brown shooting , Obama preached calm . He said he was not going to be a president who would start wars and kill people in the name of religion or race. He says Obama left out mention of race , a clear factor in police antagonism in Ferguson . He says extrajudicial killings of blacks undeniable ; Obama comments left this out . Hill : Obama chided protester , cops in same moral tone ; equivalence gave cops cover .