“Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd,” Bush began before saying he was reluctant to speak out.
“It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country,” continued the former president.
Bush then stated that
protests are “a strength” of America, before offering criticism of those opposing them.
“Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America,” said the president, “or how it becomes a better place.”
“America’s greatest challenge,” Bush continued, “has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals.”