NEW YORK, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama told world leaders at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that the country is still facing racial and ethnic problems, referring to the recent protests following the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.
"In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri – where a young man was killed, and a community was divided," Obama said. "So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions. And like every country, we continually wrestle with how to reconcile the vast changes wrought by globalization and greater diversity with the traditions that we hold dear."
"I realize that America's critics will be quick to point out that at times we too have failed to live up to our ideals; that America has plenty of problems within our own borders. This is true," the US president told delegates in New York. "But we welcome the scrutiny of the world – because what you see in America is a country that has steadily worked to address our problems and make our union more perfect."
Tensions flared again in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis of some 21,000 residents, on Tuesday, after an early morning fire destroyed a makeshift memorial honoring killed teenager Michael Brown.
Neighborhood residents who have been protecting the memorial, which was erected along the road where Brown died, were angered by the damage. Some accused local officials of not working hard enough to put the blaze out.
Brown was shot dead by police officer Darren Wilson on August 9. An inquiry into the shooting hinges on whether Wilson, 28, fired in self-defense. The incident triggered a wave of angry protests in Ferguson and all across the country. Police were criticized for using military-grade gear and heavy-handed tactics to quell the protesters in Ferguson after Brown's killing.
