President Obama on Tuesday urged Americans to “do some soul-searching” and work harder to end what he called the “slow-rolling crisis” of deaths of black men at the hands of police officers as he addressed the riots in Baltimore.

“This is not new. It’s been going on for decades,” Obama said from the White House a day after rioting erupted in Baltimore following the funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a spinal-cord injury while in police custody.

“We have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with individuals, primarily African-American, often poor, in ways that raise troubling questions. It comes up, it seems like, once a week now,” Obama said.

He added that the country has to do more than “feign concern” over Gray’s death as well as those of black men killed in police incidents in South Carolina, Missouri and Staten Island.

“It’s too easy to ignore those problems or to treat them just as a law-and-order issue as opposed to a broader social issue,” Obama said.

He claimed America should not just pay attention to the concerns of the black community only “when a CVS burns” or when “a young man gets shot or has his spine snapped.”

Still, the president lashed into the rioters who torched buildings and looted businesses in Baltimore a day earlier, calling them ​“criminals ​and thugs” who were destroying their own communities.

​“That is not a protest. It is not a statement. It’s people, a handful of people, taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes — and they need to be treated as criminals,” Obama said from the White House.

Stephen Yang Stephen Yang EPA AP Gabriella Bass EPA EPA Baltimore police officers carry an injured comrade from the streets where the clashes erupted. Getty Images Getty Images EPA EPA EPA AP Getty Images AP AP Reuters Demonstrators throw rocks at police after the funeral of Freddie Gray on April 27 in Baltimore. AP Reuters A woman flees her vehicle due to tear gas. EPA Getty Images A Baltimore police officer shoots pepper spray at demonstrators. AP Getty Images EPA Youths throw rocks at police through tear gas. EPA Reuters Getty Images A man walks by broken glass at a bus stop near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore. Getty Images Getty Images Reuters AP AP Getty Images AP Demonstrators throw rocks to the police, after the funeral of Freddie Gray. AP Getty Images AP AP AP Reuters Reuters Stephen Yang EPA Reuters Reuters Reuters Ad Up Next Close Baltimore riot mom is Mother of the Year If the Rodney King riots in LA in 1992 had... 46 View Slideshow Back Continue Share this: Facebook

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“There’s no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive. When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting. They’re not making a statement. They’re stealing,” he fumed.

“When they burn down a building, they’re committing arson. And they’re destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities,” he said, adding that the violence is what people will remember most.

“One burning building will be looped on television over and over and over again, and the thousands of demonstrators who did it the right way have been lost in the discussion.”

At least 15 police officers were hurt, six seriously, and one person was badly burned in a fire. At least 235 people were arrested, including 34 juveniles, in Monday’s disturbance.

“My understanding is you’ve got some of the same organizers now going back into these communities to try to clean up in the aftermath of a handful of protesters — a handful of criminals and thugs who tore up the place​,” Obama said.

The rioters torched 19 buildings and about 150 vehicles — but Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defended her initial call for cops to back off.

“It’s a very delicate balancing act, when we have to make sure that we’re managing but not increasing and escalating the problem,” she said.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, officials canceled school, nixed a second straight Baltimore Orioles home game, and imposed a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew.

The governor also called up 1,000 National Guard troops and later doubled that deployment.

The situation remained peaceful early Tuesday evening.

And even gang members in the crime-ridden city called for calm, appearing at City Hall with the City Council president.

“If we can stick together doing something negative, then we can stick together doing something positive,” a man who identified himself only as Trey said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “It ain’t right what people was doing.”

Gray was busted on April 12 while running from the police. He was transported to a station in a van, and suffered a spinal injury that led to his death a week later.

Additional reporting by Geoff Earle and Post Wires