Bush, a Dallas resident, said the slain officers represent “the best among us”. He said the department’s work to do just that is what has helped the city of more than 1 million avoid problems seen around the country past year. He also appealed for unity.
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“At times, it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together”, he said. “Argument turns too easily into animosity”, Bush said. Disagreement escalates too quickly into dehumanization.
Mr Obama acknowledged Americans are unsettled by another mass shooting on their streets and are seeking answers to the violence that has sparked protests in cities and highlighted the nation’s persistent racial divide. John Cornyn of Texas, are examples of how the country is not almost as divided as it might seem given political debates, campaign rhetoric and congressional dysfunction. “I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds”, Obama said. But Obama will also likely try to give voice to the anger and fear over a spate of killings of black men by police that has triggered deep anger and fear in minority communities. “That’s why we need police departments”. “In this audience I see what is possible when we recognize we are one American family”.
“We know there’s evil in this world”, he said. We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful employment. No institution is entirely immune.
“Like police officers across the country, these men and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves” and even at Thursday’s rally held in opposition to police conduct, the officers “did their jobs like the professionals that they were”.
The president called last week’s attack “an act not just of demented violence, but of racial hatred”. They finished well. We will not forget what they did for us. The slain officers were Mike Smith, 55; Lorne Ahrens, 48; Michael Krol, 40; Brent Thomson, 43, and Patrick Zamarripa, 32.
Next up was Police Chief David Brown, who recited Stevie Wonder lyrics to the victims’ families before introducing President Obama to the podium. “Whether you are black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or of Middle Eastern descent, we have all seen this bigotry in our own lives at some point”.
For five days, the news has revolved around the horrific details of the slayings, but for a brief spell Tuesday afternoon the focus will be on the men in blue who lost their lives keeping watch over what had been a peaceful protest. Republican Senator John Cornyn, attended and spoke at the service but did not travel with the president.
Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush were also seated on stage.
President Barack Obama urged Americans to reject despair after the killings of five police officers in Dallas and two civilians at the hands of police in Minnesota and Louisiana the previous week, acknowledging that the violence has torn the fabric of US society. The attack by James Boulware had been called the worst thing to happen to the Dallas police until the Black Lives Matter shooting downtown by Micah Johnson. Bush’s repeated exhortation of “at our best” was echoed by Obama’s “the America I know”, each an appeal to our better selves.
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The president spoke steps away from the chairs left empty for the five men killed last Thursday while protecting hundreds of people protesting the killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
