He hinted there were still some pledges to come in, adding, “We are very close (to the target)”.
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“So we can not let the actions of a few define all of us”, he said. “The demented individual who carried out those attacks in Dallas – he’s no more representative of African-Americans than the shooter in Charleston was representative of white Americans, or the shooter in Orlando or San Bernardino were representative of Muslim Americans”.
The president also sought to quell notions that divisions in the United States are worsening.
“When we start suggesting somehow there’s this enormous polarization and we’re back to the situation in the ’60s, it’s just not true”. “It includes family members who have grave concerns about police conduct and they’ve said that this is unacceptable”.
Obama said there is a way to talk about gun control that is consistent with the Second Amendment but he acknowledged that even mentioning the subject is polarizing.
The shootings sparked chaotic scenes of people running for their lives during a march by several hundred demonstrators in the city of 1.2 million, not far from the site where president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Speaking in Warsaw, Poland, at his last North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit as president, Obama says Americans of all races and backgrounds are “rightly outraged by the inexcusable attacks on police”, including the protesters who are “rightly saddened and angered” by the fatal police shooting of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Before departing for Spain, Obama was to meet with leaders of main North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Britain, France, Germany and Italy, plus Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko.
Police have identified the shooter as Micah Johnson, a black Army veteran purportedly upset about two recent incidents in which a police officer fatally shot a black male. He said the shooting was “vicious, calculated and despicable”.
In remarks Friday, Obama called on Americans to focus on honoring the victims, rather than divisive political debates.
Still, he has since been criticized for using the shooting to repeat his call for gun control, an issue that cuts sharply along partisan lines.
The attack has prompted Obama to return to the USA a day earlier than planned. Late Friday, after a working dinner had concluded, the White House announced he was scrubbing a planned stop in Seville, Spain, to return home early.
Aides said Obama recognized on his transatlantic flight to Poland that a more robust presidential response was needed in the wake of the killings of African-American men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Obama had been scheduled to return to Washington on Monday. US officials say the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit marks a turning point in which North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is shifting its focus from reassurance to deterrence.
Obama was still in Poland Friday for the remainder of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit.
“Later in the week, at the White House, the president will continue the work to bring people together to support our police officers and communities, and find common ground by discussing policy ideas for addressing the persistent racial disparities in our criminal justice system”, according to the statement.
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“Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged by the inexcusable attacks on police, whether it’s in Dallas or anywhere else”, Obama said.
