Obama says U.S. blacks better off overall than when he began presidency

[December 20, 2014]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday that U.S. blacks are better off now than they were when he began his presidency in 2009, but that the gap between blacks and whites remains.

"Like the rest of America, Black America, in the aggregate, is better off now than it was when I came into office," he told reporters in an end-of-year news conference.

"The gap between income and wealth of white and black America persists, and we've got more work to do on that front."

Obama said many of the jobs and housing that has been created since he took office has gone to African-Americans.

But he also pointed to the persistent income gap between white and black citizens.

Speaking about the shooting death of Michael Brown, a black teenager killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the choking death of Eric Garner, a black man killed in a police chokehold in New York, Obama pointed to forthcoming task force recommendations to "rebuild trust between communities of color and the police department."

"I actually think it's been a healthy conversation that we've had. These are not new phenomena," said Obama, who was the elected the first black president of the United States in 2008.

"You're not going to solve the problem if it's not being talked about."

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Chris Reese)

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