On Friday US President Barack Obama called for criminal justice reform as part of the modern struggle for civil rights. At South Carolina's Benedict College, Obama said that racial discrimination from police in Ferguson, Missouri, was oppressive and abusive.

Obama's comments came on the eve of the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday', when police beat many of people who were marching from Selma to Montgomery in order to protest their lack of voting rights.

In his most expansive comments about the Justice Department's report on bias against blacks in Ferguson, Obama remarked that is quiet surprising to know that the investigators merely had to look at email sent by police officials to find evidence.

According to him, the City of Ferguson must make a decision about how to move forward. He said, "Are they going to enter into some sort of agreement with the Justice Department to fix what is clearly a broken and racially biased system?"

An investigation by the Justice Department found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices within the Ferguson Police Department.

Now, in about two weeks, Ferguson city leaders will meet with Justice Department officials in to put forward an improvement plan.

Obama himself was the subject of some of the racist emails from Ferguson police. In a 2008 email, it was mentioned that Obama would not be president for long while another depicted him as a chimpanzee.

According to Attorney General Eric Holder, the federal government will use all the power that they have to change the situation, including the possibly of dismantling the police force.

He added that other police departments should understand the intensity of feelings across the federal government. They must make sure that whatever happened in Ferguson doesn't happen elsewhere.