Activist Cornel West says he was disappointed in President Obama's response to this week's shootings in of black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana.

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"I thought it was weak," West said, according to The Washington Post.

"He's always got to explain to white America how black people are feeling. Black people don't feel as if we're being treated unequally — it's a fact that we're being treated unequally. He sort of always has to serve in this translating role. That's how he rolls, but that's not how I roll."

West said while Obama called Thursday's attacks on Dallas police officers "a vicious and despicable act," he would not not use those exact words to describe police-involved killings in general.

West said the president's latest remarks emphasized how much time he had lost to speak out on racial justice.