WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting another killing of police officers, President Barack Obama on Sunday urged Americans to tamp down inflammatory words and actions as a violent summer collides with the nation’s heated presidential campaign.
Obama said the motive behind Sunday’s killing of three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was still unknown. It was the latest in a string of deadly incidents involving law enforcement, including the police shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge and the killing of five officers in Dallas.
“We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies attacks on law enforcement,” Obama said in remarks from the White House briefing room.
The president spoke on the eve of the Republican Party’s national convention, where Donald Trump will officially accept the GOP nomination. The businessman has cast the recent incidents as a sign that the country needs new leadership, often using heated rhetoric to make his point.
“Every one right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further,” Obama said.
The president spoke earlier Sunday with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden to hear the latest on the investigation into the shootings and pledge federal support.
Obama has spent most of the last week focused on defusing tensions and rebuilding trust between police departments and the communities they serve.
On July 7, an Army veteran opened fire on law enforcement in Dallas, killing five and wounding seven other officers. The shooter, who was black, said he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. Obama spoke at the memorial service for the officers killed and told Americans not to despair, that the nation is not as divided as it might seem.
The next day, Obama held an extraordinary four-hour meeting at the White House’s executive offices with police officers, community activists and elected leaders, emerging from the session saying “we’re not even close” to the point where minority communities could feel confident that police departments were serving them with respect and equality or where police departments could feel adequately supported at all levels.
The shooting of the police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were preceded by police shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, which sparked protests around the country. Dallas police were defending protesters in that city when the gunman opened fire on them.
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AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace in Cleveland contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Those of us who can walk and chew gum at the same time, should be able to support the police, appreciate who they are and what they do, and still imagine how unfair it would be to drive while black. To constantly be pulled over for every ridiculous rolling stop and turn signal malfunction, and to generally be regarded as an armed robbery suspect by default.
I and every other white person should be asking ourselves how well or how long we’d put up with it if the roles were reversed.
Time for all Anglo Americans and Europeans to join the Black Lives Matter movement. Defending the right for blacks to live isn’t just a role for blacks, it’s the role for all of We the People, including white / Europeans, who know injustice and have compassion for those being targeted, even if it isn’t myself / whites / Anglo Americans. remember, the FBI is threatening to shut down Black Lives Matter protests at the GOP convention. Let’s try to have the Black Lives Matter protests be at least as many Anglo Americans in those protests as there are black Americans. The FBI wants to target blacks. Let’s make them target all of We The People, we who stand together as humans, apart from the police / FBI / Obama’s regime and his cowardly Attorney General who refuses to indict police who murder (including Eric Holder, the last coward in that position).
Don’t hold back now, tell us what you really think!
And, I think we do, for the most part.
Perception of policing in America is pretty much at its nadir (I hope) right now. And we all feel for the slain officers and their families. But here’s the deal:
Until police unions stand up to the NRA;
Until there is a massive shift in policeman’s us v them mindset;
Until there is universal body cams on policeman;
Until body cam footage is released upon request;
Until there is on-going human-sensitivity training for all police;
Until there is actual community policing,
Nothing will change.
Nothing.
Do gun laws or cultural norms matter more? Finland is pretty armed, http://www.npr.org/2014/06/13/321668585/could-finland-teach-the-u-s-a-lesson-on-guns
but the emphasis is not on handguns as in the US. More importantly, guns are not a normal part of conflict resolution in Finland. In the US, they are.