During that night, Micah Xavier Johnson, angered by white people, and wanting to kill them, especially white police officers, opened fire at the conclusion of a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.
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Though the Obama White House has been illuminated to show support for other causes, most notably the legalization of gay marriage, numerous critics pointed out the mansion received no such treatment following the recent mass shooting that left five Dallas police officers dead. Four months before a national election, where Obama’s legacy largely depends on who is elected as his successor, it was not helpful to have five officers shot to death at a Black Lives Matter rally. “It underscores that that’s a tough job and we have to keep that in mind”, the president said.
The five officers – Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, and Lorne Ahrens – were killed on Thursday by a lone sniper during a street protest against police violence.
“We mourn fewer people today because of your courageous actions”, he said pointing at the audience filled with officers.
President Obama: “These men and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves”. “And this includes our police departments”. “I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem”, Obama said before launching into a defense of police and the sacrifices they make.
While urging more police departments to adopt federal recommendations on training and avoiding confrontation, Obama has said progress will only come through steady, long-term efforts, once the country is ready to “sit down and just grind it out”. In a video posted as part of the media pool coverage of the event, both Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama are seen turning to the former president quizzically. After the summit Wednesday, Obama said there were still “deep divisions” about the solutions, and predicted there would be more tensions “this month, next month, next year, for quite some time”. Again after the Baltimore riots, Obama spoke repeatedly of young blacks being treated differently by law enforcement officers “in stops and arrests, and in charges and incarcerations”. His speech went on to call for the ability to hold true the “two opposing ideas” of supporting police officers while condemning police brutality.
“At our best, we see the image of God in ourselves”, Bush said. Yet he also acknowledged the fear and pain among black Americans who feel targeted and brutalised by police.
“We want the unity of hope, affection and higher objective”, he said.
Obama was meeting Wednesday with police officers at the White House – the second such session this week.
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Obama and Biden met Monday with police chiefs, sheriffs and rank-and-file officers to discuss adopting a series of reforms that were drafted by a White House task force on policing, as well as how to restore trust between police officers and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect. The statistics, he said, were clear: the criminal justice system is biased against African-Americans from one end to the other.
