“We turn on the TV or surf the internet, and we can watch positions harden and lines drawn and people retreat to their respective corners”, the first black USA president said. “And they are the code of the police officer”.
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People in Dallas and across the United States are suffering in the wake of last week’s slaying of five police officers at a protest against police violence, President Barack Obama told a memorial for victims of the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement in nearly 15 years.
President Barack Obama and FLOTUS Michelle attended a memorial for the Dallas police officers slain in the line of duty last week.
“Because with an open heart, we can learn to stand in each other’s shoes and look at the world through each other’s eyes, so that maybe the police officer sees his own son in that teenager with a hoodie who’s kind of goofing off but not unsafe”, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) – With emotions running raw, President Barack Obama met privately Wednesday with elected officials, law enforcement leaders and members of the Black Lives Matter movement with the goal of getting them to work together to curb violence and build trust.
The gathering included four mayors (Los Angeles, St. Paul, Minn., Anaheim, Calif., and Newark, N.J.), six police chiefs (Louisiana State Police; Los Angeles; St. Paul, Minn; Vacaville, Calif.; New Haven, Conn.; and Pittsburgh, Pa.) and representatives from several national police groups.
The president, joined by his wife, Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, were also meeting privately in Dallas with families of the slain officers.
“You know, I’m glad he’s going to Dallas”, Hurt said.
Also on the list were Mica Grimm, with Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and DeRay Mckesson, who was arrested Saturday in Baton Rouge, on a charge of obstructing a highway. Mr Mckesson was released from jail on Sunday.
The event was further marred by controversy as the former president George W. Bush danced through a hymn.
“We can not simply turn away and dismiss those in peaceful protest as troublemakers or paranoid”, Obama added.
Police groups and activists emerged from the meeting saying they didn’t always agree with each other on the issues, but they did agree the meeting was productive.
This is a narrative that he has drawn, I think very incorrectly, and he has drawn this narrative for political purposes and now we’re seeing him reap what he has sowed. This is about emotion. This is about people’s lives. “This is about fear in the community and it’s our job to make people safe”.
President Obama was in Dallas to take part in a service honoring the victims of last week’s attack.
Rawlings read the names of the five officers who were shot and killed: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Kroll, Michael Smith, Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa.
Although race relations have improved dramatically in America in recent decades, he added, “America, we know bias remains, we know it”.
25-year-old Johnson’s massacre ended after an intense firefight with police when he was blown up by a robot sent in carrying a bomb. Nine officers and two civilians were injured.
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Some protesters, meanwhile, questioned why Obama rushed home from Europe to attend the service in Dallas before meeting with the communities grieving their dead in Minnesota and Louisiana.
