George Floyd Death: In Statement, Obama Calls For 'New Normal'

Former President Barack Obama broke his silence Friday by calling on Minnesota officials to ensure a "thorough investigation" into the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police earlier this week.

In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Obama said it "falls on all of us, regardless of race or station" to work together to create a new normal in which the "legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts."

Obama's statement follows three days of violent protests and unrest throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro.

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The protests come following Floyd's death. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was identified in a video that showed him gasping for breath while a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for almost eight minutes. In footage recorded by a bystander, Floyd pleads that he cannot breathe until he slowly stops talking and moving.

Obama shared friends' reactions to the news, adding that he and millions of others shared their anguish.

"It's natural to wish for life 'to just get back to normal,' as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us," the statement reads. "But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly 'normal.'

"This shouldn't be 'normal' in 2020 America," the statement continues. "It can't be 'normal.' If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better."