President Barack Obama's
comments on the continuing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, left some African Americans on Twitter feeling let down,
The Washington Post reported.
An early sampling of the black reaction on Twitter found tweets mostly complaining that Obama was straddling and missing the point.
"I don't expect President Obama to become a race man, I expect him not to reinforce notions of inherent Black deficiency," tweeted
Jamilah Lemieux, senior digital editor at Ebony.
She
later tweeted that it was inappropriate for Obama to reference "My Brother's Keeper when talking about a police killing."
"I get Obama's role but if he can't speak directly to this situation then what POTUS will? I'm tired of our plights needing framing to be heard," tweeted media writer
Elon James White.
Jamil Smith, a digital producer, agreed that "the suggestion that My Brother's Keeper could have helped save Michael Brown is ludicrous to the point of being willfully ignorant."
"Our President ain't never loved us. You can't watch us being tear gassed, terrorized, love us and say the [expletive] he just said," tweeted
Brittney Cooper, a contributor to
Salon.
"Granted, Twitter isn't real life," the Post's Nia-Malika Henderson wrote. "And these voices don't represent all of black Twitter by any means. But they are a good snapshot of how some of the most prominent, active black voices on social media judged Obama's remarks on Ferguson: dissatisfaction – mixed with relief at his announcement that Attorney General Eric Holder is headed to Ferguson on Wednesday."