Obama urges deeper look at US race-fuelled violence

President Barack Obama on Monday urged Americans to address the root causes of recent racially-tinged unrest, focusing not just on police actions but improving opportunities for young black men.

As police again mobilized on the streets of Baltimore to calm tempers after a false report of a man shot by officers, Obama weighed in on anger over police treatment of blacks that has prompted protests from New York to Ferguson.

Obama said protests were fuelled not just by police mistreatment, but a festering sense of "unfairness and of powerlessness."

"If we're just looking at policing, we're looking at it too narrowly," he said, sketching a grim picture of city neighborhoods plagued by absent fathers and drug-addicted mothers, where jail is a more likely career path than university.

"By almost every measure, the life chances of the average young man of color are worse than his peers," Obama said, making a highly personal pitch for change.

"Those opportunity gaps begin early, often at birth, and they compound over time, becoming harder and harder to bridge."

"There are consequences to inaction. There are consequences to indifference... over time, it wears us out. Over time, it weakens our nation as a whole."

Obama's comments came during a visit to New York to spin off his "My Brother's Keeper" initiative.

Started as a White House policy to talk about improving opportunities for young black men, it will now become an independent non-profit organization.

Making the initiative independent of the White House could portend a future role for Obama when he leaves the Oval Office.

"This will remain a mission for me and for Michelle, not just for the rest of my presidency, but for the rest of my life," Obama said.

"This is personal. Because in these young men, we see ourselves," he said, noting his father was also absent during his formative years.