At town hall, Obama confronts race issues bigger than police

WASHINGTON -- The son of the Louisiana man shot dead by police wants President Barack Obama to help end world racism. The mother of a police officer pleads for ways to keep her son safe. A single mom who has sent her son away from a rough Baltimore neighborhood worries over how to keep him safe when he's home on the weekends.

America's fraught debate about tensions between blacks and police spilled over Thursday into hand-wringing about societal problems beyond any one person's capacity to fix -- even the president.

At a town-hall meeting recorded to be broadcast in prime time, Obama offered suggestions but no surefire solutions.

The good news, Obama said, is at least people finally are talking about the problems. Calling for "open hearts," he urged Americans not to cloister themselves in separate corners.

"Because of the history of this country and the legacy of race and all the complications that are involved with that, working through these issues so that things can continue to get better will take some time," Obama said.

More time than he has left in office, he conceded.

As 32-year-old Philando Castile's funeral was underway in St. Paul, Minnesota, Obama took a question remotely from Diamond Reynolds, Castile's girlfriend, who livestreamed the aftermath of his shooting by police on Facebook. She said she's scared for her daughter's future and asked the president, "What do we do?"

Choosing his words carefully, Obama said it's key for officers to get to know the community they're protecting. Also critical, he said, was to train police better to avoid "implicit biases."

"We all carry around with us some assumptions about other people," Obama said. If people are honest with themselves, he added, "oftentimes there is a presumption that black men are dangerous."

In a tense moment at the end of the town hall, the daughter of a man who died in a police confrontation started screaming after being denied a chance to question the president.

Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, later met briefly with Obama in private, the White House said.