Race relations, and progress for blacks, have improved in America, according to President Barack Obama.

Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Obama told host John Dickerson that he is “in some ways … able to see it through the eyes of my daughters.”

I look at the way in which my daughters take for granted their right to aspire to anything. And I think about the way, in their interactions with their white friends, they have a common culture and a common language and common perspectives that were far more segregated even when I was growing up — and that wasn’t that long ago.

However, Obama then noted, “Ironically, precisely because things have gotten better, what I’ve heard from younger African-Americans is more shock about the images and the videos in Minnesota or Baton Rouge.”

Obama was responding to recent flare-ups on the issue of race relations after the shooting deaths he referenced. Both black men killed by police gained tremendous media attention after the incidents were recorded on smartphones. In the Minnesota case, Diamond Reynolds streamed video live on Facebook as her fiancé Philando Castile, who was shot in his car, lay dying in the driver’s seat.

“These issues are not new,” Obama said. “What’s new is smartphones and videos — and this actually gives us a greater opportunity to try to tackle these problems.”

In the two cases, investigations are ongoing as to whether racism, conscious or unconscious, was a contributing factor in the shootings.

The two shootings were followed by multiple ambushes of police officers across the nation, including five killed in Dallas. Ironically, the five officers were killed while protecting the rights of speech and assembly for Black Lives Matter protesters.

In a recent article, “What You Can Do to Improve Race Relations,” sociology professor George Yancey said, “We cannot reasonably believe ourselves to be able to address the concerns of others if we do not know what they are.”

“I wonder what would happen,” Yancey continued, “if millions of individuals went out of their way to learn how those they disagree with perceive racial issues. Imagine the type of conversations we would have.”