U.S. President Obama is calling for calm ahead of the grand jury decision on Michael Brown's killing in Ferguson, Missouri, arguing that race relations have had significant improvements over the last ten years.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” taped last week, Obama said his own experience tells him race relations continue to improve.

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“There’s no way to say race relations are worse than 20, 50 years ago,” the president said.

The whole U.S. awaits the announcement with much anticipation, but the grand jury postponed work until Monday, the earliest that news of the decision could be heard. Earlier in the week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, and again called the state National Guard to help local authorities maintain order, whatever is the outcome.

Days after the Aug. 9 incident, massive nightly protests took place in the city and led to several bouts of violence. Officials are preparing for a similar scenario, especially if Officer Darren Wilson is not indicted. Obama told ABC that his main call is for citizens to keep the protests peaceful.

“This is a country that allows everybody to express their views, allows them to peacefully assemble, to protest actions that they think are unjust, but using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to rule of law and contrary to who we are,” he said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has deployed almost 100 additional agents to Ferguson to help law enforcement, as crews started erecting barricades around the judicial center in Clayton where the grand jury has been meeting.

On Friday night, police arrested three men who were attempting to buy guns by falsifying entries in a formal declaration.

TagsFerguson, Obama, michael brown