Obama meeting with civil rights leaders at the White House

Those participating in the event include Campaign Zero co-founders DeRay Mckesson and Brittany Packnett, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), NAACP President Cornell William Brooks, the Rev. Al Sharpton and National Bar Association President Benjamin Crump.

“Rather, what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that’s happening in the African-American community that’s not happening in other communities… and that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address”, he said.

Speaking in the White House driveway after meeting with Obama, Sharpton said the group discussed the ongoing fight over naming a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

The possibility of Republicans blocking hearing on a nominee has riled the Democratic base and ensured that whomever Obama chooses will become an election-year cause celebre.

The White House has said Obama values diversity on the bench, but has not indicated specifically whether he’s considering a black nominee.

In the letter, Pulley described the meeting as a “sham” and expressed her dissatisfaction with President Obama and the criminal legal system. President Barack Obama said Friday that the violence in Libya “is just one more chapter in the change that is unfolding” across the Middle East and North Africa. The… She’s committed to that job, but Attorney General Lynch could do any job in the law. The meeting will occur in conjunction with the White House’s Black History Month reception, a decision aides have called a mere coincidence, Time reported.

“If the administration is serious about addressing the issues of Black Lives Matter Chicago – and its sister organizations that go by different names across this nation – they can start by meeting the simple demands of families who want transparency, who want police that kill Black people unjustly to be fired, indicted and held accountable”, Pulley wrote.

The meeting of inter-generational civil rights activists marked the first of its kind, and coincided with Obama’s final Black History Month as president. “Until this begins to happen on a mass scale, any celebrations of Black History that go on inside the walls of the White House are hollow and ceremonial at best”.