Obama Pays Tribute To Dallas Officers Slain In ‘Act Of Racial Hatred’

President Obama gave an emotional speech Tuesday during an interfaith memorial service for the five police officers killed last week in Dallas, labelling the killings “an act of racial hatred.”

In his speech, Obama noted that the protest where the shooting occurred had been peaceful and said the alleged shooter was motivated by hatred for white people.

“I know that Americans are struggling right now with what we have witnessed over the past week,” Obama said. “First, the shootings in Minnesota and Baton Rouge, the protests. Then the targeting of police by the shooter here. An act not just of demented violence, but of racial hatred. All of it left us wounded and angry. And hurt. This is the deepest fault lines of our democracy that have suddenly been exposed, perhaps widened.”

He also nodded to the tension between black Americans and the police, saying that while the protest in Dallas was interrupted by violence, officers had protected protestors even if they “profoundly disagreed” with each other.

“Despite the fact that police conduct was the subject of the protest, despite the fact that their must have been signs or slogans or chants with which they profoundly disagreed, these men and this department did their jobs like the professionals they were,” he said.

Obama continued to focus on a message of both political and racial unity throughout his speech. He shared stories of protestors and police helping each other when bullets rang out in Dallas, and of those who both protested the police and mourned those officers who were killed.

But he also acknowledged that many are frustrated with a lack of action, lamenting how “inadequate” his own words had become in situations of violence. He called on all Americans to do their part to combat violence and bias.

“If we cannot even talk about these things, if we cannot talk honestly and openly, not just in the comfort of our own circles, but with those who look different than us or bring a different perspective, then we will never break this dangerous cycle,” he said.

Though he focused much of the speech on respecting police officers and the danger of the job, Obama stressed that racism still exists in America and can influence the way that law enforcement treats blacks. He encouraged people to empathize with those who have lost family members who were killed by the police.

“But, even those who dislike the phrase, black lives matter, surely we should hear the pain of Alton Sterling’s family,” he said. “We should — when we hear a friend describe him saying whatever he cooked, he cooked enough for everybody. That should sound familiar to us. Maybe he wasn’t so different than us.”