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The world has and continues to change in so many monumental ways since former President Barack Obama's eight years in office.

Today, he says he stays awake at night thinking about how democracy can flourish in our constantly evolving world.

"We're now seeing state legislatures try to further suppress the vote or allow partisan politics to infect voting results and election results. That troubles me," Obama told "Good Morning America" host Michael Strahan in an exclusive interview.

Republicans in favor of measures requiring voters to identify themselves say these laws protect against people voting more than once, voting on behalf of someone else, or voting when they do not have the legal right to do so. Others who agree with Obama say voter fraud is not nearly common enough to warrant these laws, which disproportionately affect minorities including people of color.

Obama said he also spends a lot of time thinking about income inequality. "How can we increase minimum wages? How can we ensure that if you work hard in this country, you can make it?" he said of the questions that keep him up at night. "How does our democracy get refreshed and updated so that it continues to work effectively as we become a more diverse society?"

Michael Strahan interviews Former President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

Still, Obama is optimistic democracy can prosper.

Ahead of the Juneteenth holiday, which celebrates the emancipation of all enslaved people in the U.S, the former president said he trusts in a new generation of people fighting for equal rights. He met with some of these next-generation leaders, talented young athletes and students in one of Washington D.C.'s poorest neighborhoods, to discuss their ambitions. He also encouraged all Americans to reject hopelessness and work toward unity.

Even after the U.S. Capitol was attacked by insurrectionists who falsely believed then-President Donald Trump had won re-election, Obama said he believes "there's a way back."

"We've gotta do a better job of reducing the influence of those who try to inflame division and traffic in conspiracy theories for their own benefit," he said. "If we can't agree on basic facts then it's very hard for us to negotiate and compromise in a way that is constructive."

In May, the House of Representatives passed a bill to create an independent investigation into the January insurrection, but it was blocked in the Senate despite six Republican senators breaking ranks to vote in favor of the investigation. House Republicans argued the investigation would be used as political ammunition against them into the 2022 midterm elections.

"I do not believe the additional, extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts, or promote healing," Senate leader Mitch McConnell said. "Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to do that."

Five people, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, died during or after the riot, and 140 police officers were injured. At least 465 of those who breached the Capitol have been arrested.

Meanwhile, many voters across the country still question the 2020 election results that spurred that attack -- despite repeated debunking of false voter fraud claims, several recounts confirming President Joe Biden's win, and failed lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign.

Michael Strahan interviews Former President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

"How we change that dynamic is gonna require, I think, a level of the public paying attention and insisting and demanding their elected officials and people in the media just, you know, saving our democratic habits and practices in a way that we have not seen," Obama said, adding that the rhetoric delegitimizing the process is a "threat to democracy."

Obama acknowledges how far political camps in our country have drifted apart from each other.

"If you are fighting for dignity and human rights and inclusion and opportunity, there's always gonna be resistance in a big, complicated society like ours. The question is are we able to maintain a process in which we listen to other voices?" he said. "If we lose, we say, 'As long as the process was fair, then I guess we gotta go out there and persuade more people to our side.'"

"There's a give and take," he added. "In our world of hot takes and Twitter, [there's an effort to] demonize the other side as much as possible. Sometimes, we think somehow the compromise and listening and working together is wrong."

Our country is only becoming more diverse, and our task is to make sure democracy works for everybody, Obama said.

"The American dream has been a reality for some and a myth for others," he said. "[There are] a lot of communities around the country where the kids who grew up here may formally be free, but structurally, because of poverty, because of schools that aren't working, because of substandard housing It requires so much more effort for them to live out that American dream. Our job is to make sure that it's not a myth, and right now, for too many, it still is."

His point is made clear in the very place where the former president met with ABC News: the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where the area's population is 94% Black and where 38% of its residents live at or below the poverty level.

"Something's happening in our society that prevents them from ascending to the highest office in the land," he said of underprivileged communities like Anacostia. "The same is true for African Americans; the same is true for Latinos; and [for] the first Americans, Native Americans. ... The odds are stacked in ways that prevent a lot of young people from realizing their potential, and we can do something about it."

Anacostia's Barry Farms neighborhood was once a tobacco plantation and later the first settlement for freed, formerly enslaved people in the city. In 1943, it became the Barry Farm Housing Projects and in the 1970s, the Barry Farm Community Summer Basketball League was formed.

In 1996, former resident Miles Rawls restarted the program when he returned from military service. Today, it is known as the George Goodman League and operates in partnership with the District of Columbia on the grounds of the Barry Farms Recreation Center, in an effort to keep history alive and people off the streets.

Former President Barack Obama with students from the Goodman League and area schools.

The league in the southeast corner of the city has attracted passionate ball players from around the region, and even the occasional NBA player, such as Kevin Durant, Gilbert Arenas and John Wall. This year, the league will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

"Back in those days -- the late '90s, early 2000s -- every gangster, hustler, troublemaker, you name it, was in here watching the games," Rawls said. He had one rule, he said: "No beefs in the gates This was a crime deterrence."

Seven years ago, Rawls, along with Marcus Chester, decided to expand the league, subsequently starting the Junior Goodman League. Today, it fields youth teams of third through 12th graders.

But due to the pandemic over the last year, the courts were closed.

"Throughout it all, I think they have learned to roll with the punches. Life comes at you with different things and you have to learn to deal with them," said Chester, who runs the Junior League.

Now, he says the program is back in action. Earlier this month, Obama surprised a group of athletes from the league as well as players from area schools.

Seventeen-year-old Rakisha Ballinger, who played pick-up with the Goodman League, is graduating from high school this year. She told Obama she will be attending Wagner College in New York to play basketball and study nursing. Electra Allembert, 17, said she doesn't yet know where she wants to go to college, but told the former president she wants to study law.

"I was like a lot of teenagers. I made mistakes," Obama told the students. "The reason I tell young people that is because I want them to have a sense that even if you make some mistakes, you still have so much time to reorient yourself and to go down a path that can lead to success."

Obama added that being on a basketball team like the Goodman League, in any sport, helps players "start feeling like it's all part of something bigger than just you. ... That's true in sports, [that] is true in life."

The former president said he takes hope from "the long view" and "recognizing that resilience, determination, the ability to deal with setbacks and disappointments carry us forward."

"No one has exhibited that more historically in this country than African Americans," he said. "The March on Washington happened during my lifetime. That's not ancient history. In big parts of the country, segregation was still operative when I was alive. ... What seems like stuff we now take for granted, that's just a generation old."

Now, the next generation has taken on the mantle of furthering equality. When asked what a young Obama might be doing at this time of social change, he said he hopes he'd "be out there with those young people ... trying to steer that energy into constructive, practical change."

"I could not be prouder of the young activists who responded to the George Floyd murder and so many of the other incidents that we've seen over the last several years," he said. "You had a level of white participation in those protests that you never saw, even at the height of the Civil Rights Movement back in the '60s. The key now is to translate that righteous anger and frustration and sadness into concrete policies."

Michael Strahan interviews Former President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, June 3, 2021.

Sixteen-year-old Machi Chester, who has been playing with the Junior Goodman League since it launched seven years ago, says he was one of those people who went to the Floyd protests.

"Just to come together as a community was -- it was a good thing," Chester said.

Obama acknowledged that it can be "tempting" to consume the news sometimes and "feel despair."

"When we examine the history of race relations in this country what's happening with climate change, it is tempting sometimes to say, 'My goodness, humans are not going to get their act together,'" he said.

Hopelessness can be a "refuge," he said, from the harder work of pushing for change.

"The harder thing to do ... is to look at that stuff squarely, not deny it, not pretend there's no racism out there, not pretend that humans aren't cruel and selfish sometimes. But to say, 'Despite those truths and that fact, that's not immutable. That's not something that can't be changed,'" he said.

"We're not all gonna live in a perfect kumbaya society but we can make it better by working and by reaching out, and by assuming the best in each other. And if enough of us do that, we move that boulder up the hill," he said.

In his new book "A Promised Land," he writes about how often people believe change comes from one charismatic leader, but he says that's not entirely true.

"When we have a bunch of people working together, that's when change happens. That's one of the things I really admired about so many of the protests that happened this summer."

"When you look at our history, it happens from the bottom up. It happens because of [the] multiplicity of voices. Because none of us alone have all the answers," he said. "A thousand people who are organized, they can change the law in a city. A couple thousand folks who mobilize, they can have an impact at the state level. And a handful of people who are determined, they can change a neighborhood."

Obama said he misses doing that work while he was in office. However, he said, "I don't miss the pomp. I don't miss the attention."

Now, when he's not traveling, the two-term president spends his time between his homes in Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. He said he feels joy from his daughters, Sasha, who just turned 20, and Malia, 22.

"When I see the two of them and the grace and kindness and sense of responsibility they have to each other and to the wider world ... of all the things I have accomplished in my life ... my partnership with Michelle, resulting in them, that makes everything worth it," he said.

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President Obama on the keys to democracy's survival, healing racial divide - ABC News

This week, the Obama Presidential Portraits go on view at the Art Institute of Chicagothe first stop on a 11-month-long, five venue tour. And the museum, which is now operating at full capacity, is expecting big crowds.

With the exception of two days, tickets to see the paintings by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald are already sold out for the rest of June, a spokesperson for the Art Institute told Artnet News.

For the remainder of the portraits two-month stint, general admission tickets will be released in batches. Lines are expected to be long, and the institution will implement a virtual queuing system to manage crowds, allowing ticket holders to explore the museum while they wait.

Visitors will find the artworks on the ground floor of the Art Institutes contemporary wing, where the paintings will be displayed side-by-side for the first time since they were unveiled in February of 2018. (As is tradition, portraits of former presidents and their respective spouses live in different exhibition spaces at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.)

Its a fitting spot to kick off the tour: Barack and Michelle Obama had their first date at the museum in the late 1980s.

The Obamas and the museum help define Chicago for people outside Chicago, the Art Institutes president and director James Rondeau told the Washington Post this week.

The portraits, he went on, tell a story of a president and a first lady, a narrative of all the firsts they represent. But seeing them on the wall together, they are perhaps a little more Michelle and Barack Obama. They carry all of the historical precedents, and they carry some of their humanity.

The official portraits of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, painted by Wiley and Sherald, respectively, attracted mass crowds upon being installed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in early 2018, leading to smashed attendance records and stories of gallery-goers breaking into tears.

In the two years and change that the artworks were on view at the museum, well over four million people saw them, a representative from the NPG saidand thats a conservative estimate.

People stand in line to see the commissioned portrait of former President Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley at the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery on February 20, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images.

After Chicago, the portraits will make consecutive two-month stops at the Brooklyn Museum (August 27October 24, 2021); the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (November 7, 2021January 2, 2022); the High Museum of Art (January 7, 2022March 13, 2022); and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (March 27, 2022May 30, 2022), in that order.

These five tour destinations were chosen for their connection to the artists and the Obamas, the NPGs director, Kim Sajet, told Artnet News upon announcing the tour last year. Wiley was born in L.A. and is now based in Brooklyn, for instance, while Sherald went to college in Atlanta.

Because of the attention the portraits brought to the museum, so many people discovered the Portrait Gallery for the first time. They came to see the portraits and then stayed to look at everything else, Sajet said. I hope that is exactly what will happen at the museums where theyll go on tour.

The Obama Portraits will be on view at the Art Institute of Chicago June 18 through August 15, 2021.

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The Obama Presidential Portraits Kick Off an 11-Month Tour in Chicago This Week. Tickets Are Already Selling Out - artnet News

(CBS DETROIT)-Its a celebration!

Juneteenth is a holiday that we all celebrate for our, for freedom, said 10 year oldKameron Caverduncan.

Freedom from slavery for African Americans in 1865 now being recognized as a National holiday in 2021.

During an interview I asked Kameron.. When you grow up you can tell other kids, this happened when I was 10 years old, how does that make you feel

Make me feel good, Kameron said.

Like his fellow students at the Barack Obama Leadership Academy (formally the Timbuktu Academy,) on Detroits Eastside, Kameron has this holiday as a part of his curriculum.

We are an African centered school and the entire year we do prep and plan for Juneteenth, said Kim Pritchett, principal at the Barack Obama Leadership Academy.

Staff members say the k-5 students know exactly why they celebrate Juneteenth and its importance.

There needs to be a day that recognizes Africans that were put into slavery and when the last of them were freed in Texas and thats only because troops came in, black troops came into that town, saidBernard Parker, CEO of Barack Obama Leadership Academy.

Throughout the day Friday the students and community enjoyed a program on the history of Juneteenth, a petting farm, house back rides, bounced in bounce houses and danced.

The students enjoyed the day, while reflecting on the past.

If you dont know your past youre not going to be able to do a thing in the future, said Parker.

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Juneteenth Not Only a Holiday At The Barack Obama Leadership Academy, Its Part Of The Curriculum, And Has Been Over 20 Years - CBS Detroit

The Netflix movie "Fatherhood" is not just unique because it features Kevin Hart in a dramatic role, but also because it's one of the rare times onscreen where a Black father is portrayed in a positive light.

Because of that, the movie grabbed the attention of Barack and Michelle Obama, whose production company, Higher Ground, is attached to the Netflix film, out Friday.

"I got to talk to Obama," Hart told Insider, adding that the former president is a film buff. "He really saw the opportunity in this movie for positive messaging attached to a Black man being a good father."

In the movie, Hart plays a father who raises his daughter alone after the death of his wife during childbirth.

The comedian said even before the Obamas got involved in "Fatherhood," Barack was a supporter of his career.

"He has always shown a high level of love and support for the things I've done, which is dope as hell," he added.

The Obamas formed Higher Ground in 2018, signing a multi-year deal with Netflix to produce TV and film projects that lift diverse voices.

Previous to "Fatherhood," Higher Ground was involved with the 2019 Oscar-winning Netflix documentary "American Factory," about a Chinese company that takes over a shuttered General Motors plant in Ohio; and 2020's "Becoming," which looked inside Michelle promoting her memoir on a national book tour.

Based on Matthew Logelin's 2011 memoir "Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love," for years "Fatherhood" lingered in development hell (at one time Channing Tatum was attached to play the lead) until Hart got his hands on the script in 2019.

The film, where Hart is also a producer through his own HartBeat Productions, marks his first major plunge into dramatic acting.

Hart plans to follow this up with another dramatic work for Netflix, the HartBeat-produced limited series, "True Story," in which he plays a fictional version of himself: a Philadelphia-born comic whose relationship with his troubled older brother (played by Wesley Snipes) could destroy the career he's trying to build.

No release date has been announced yet for the series.

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Kevin Hart reveals why Barack Obama joined Netflix's 'Fatherhood' - Insider

Bill Gates speaks at US Chamber of Global Forum

During the pandemic lockdown and now in the middle of a high-profile, very public divorce, billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates still hits the books and hopes you do as well.

"I hope at least one of these books sparks your interest this summer," Gates said as he rolled out his annual reading recommendations.

"When I finish one book and am deciding what to read next, there usually isnt always rhyme or reason to what I pick," Gates wrote in a blog post on Monday. "Sometimes Ill read one great book and get inspired to read several more about the same subject. Other times I am eager to follow a recommendation from someone I respect."

Gates says he has recently been drawn to books about "the complicated relationship between humanity and nature" while reflecting upon the impact of the global pandemic. "Maybe its because everyones lives have been upended by a virus," Gates writes. "Or maybe its because Ive spent so much time this year talking about what we need to do to avoid a climate disaster."

Here's the top five list

BILL GATES IS A POTATO FARMER, HOEING FOR MCDONALDS FRIES

Kicking off Gates' list is Lights Out: Pride, Delusion and the Fall of General Electric.

Lights Out: Pride, Delusion and the Fall of General Electric by Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann (Photo courtesy of Amazon)

According to Gates, Wall Street Journal reporters Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann give an "unflinching look at the mistakes and missteps made by GEs leadership."

"GE is a mythic corporation. It was at one time the largest, most powerful company in the world," Gates writes. "When GE started using Microsoft software in our early days, that gave us a huge boost in the market, because GE was such a bellwether company."

However, he notes that the GE ended up "crashing to Earth in one of the greatest downfalls in business history."

Gates said that his first big takeaway from Lights Out was that one of GE's greatest apparent strengths turned out to be one of its greatest weaknesses.

"For many years, investors loved GEs stock because the GE management team always "made their numbers"that is, the company produced earnings per share at least as large as what Wall Street analysts predicted," Gates explains. "It turns out that culture of making the numbers at all costs gave rise to "success theater" and "chasing earnings."

His other takeaway was that GE "did not have the right talent and systems to bundle together a dizzying array of unrelated businessesand manage them well."

Ultimately, he believes Lights Out is an essential read for anyone in a leadership role who wants to avoid the mistakes made by GE.

BILL GATES' NEXT GENERATION NUCLEAR REACTOR TO BE BUILT IN WYOMING

For an "enjoyable read" Gates recommendsUnder a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert, which he says is the "most straightforward examination of "humanity versus nature" on this list."

The book covers a variety of topics, from attempts to save coral reefs and control flooding in southern Louisiana to the concept of gene drive and geoengineering.

While Gates believes Under a White Sky is a "good reminder that we need to watch out for the unforeseen effects of our actions," he claims he is "more of an optimist" than Kolbert.

BILL GATES AND MELINDA FRENCH GATES EXPLORE CHANGES TO FOUNDATION

The autobiography of the 44th president, A Promised Land by Barack Obama, covers the author's life up through the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Gates called the book a "terrific read, no matter what your politics are" which "captures how complex the job of running the country is."

"Obama makes it clear the positives of the jobespecially the opportunity to make lives betteroutweigh the negatives," Gates notes. "But overall, the memoir left me with a surprisingly melancholy impression of what its like to be the president."

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In what some may see as an unusual read on Gates' list, The Overstory by Richard Powers follows the lives of nine people and examines their connection with trees. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2019.

"Even though the book takes a pretty extreme view towards the need to protect forests, I was moved by each characters passion for their cause and finished the book eager to learn more about trees," Gates said.

Gates warned in his review that The Overstory isn't a book where everything "gets tied up with a bowand adds, "I didnt mind the lack of clarity, but some other people might. If you are in the mood for something that stimulates your thinking instead of providing answers, though, youll love The Overstory. Its very well-written and takes twists you wouldnt expect."

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Rounding out his top five picks, An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives, written by Pulitzer Prize-winningNew York Timesjournalist Matt Richtel, covers the human immune system and how it interacts with the latest advancements in treatments, biologics.

"He keeps the subject accessible by focusing on four patients, each of whom is forced to manage their immune system in one way or another," Gates said. "Their stories make for a super interesting look at the science of immunity."

Though the book was published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates says it is a "valuable read" that gives readers all the context needed to understand the science of immunity.

"In the process of reading about the four people in An Elegant Defense, you absorb quite a lot of useful and interesting science," Gates said. "Most important, youll come away with a much better understanding of our immune systems awesome complexityand the delicate, even precarious, tradeoffs inherent in its workings."

"Now that Ive read An Elegant Defense, I have a deeper, more nuanced appreciation for the system that is at the core of humanitys fight against COVID-19 and everything our foundations Global Health program is trying to do," he added.

The list's release was originally slated for May 10 but was postponed. On May 3, Gates announced that he and his wife Melinda were ending their 27-year marriage. Following the announcement, Gates has transferred billions in various stock holdings to his soon-to-be ex-wife, while dealing with reports of infidelity.

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