Protests
and Vigils
Community and
police respond
to shootings
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‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 28
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 13, 2016
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Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
President Barack Obama calls on Americans to find common ground in support of racial equity and justice at a memorial Tuesday in Dallas for the five police officers killed
last week in an apparent revenge killing during a protest of police killings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.
Finding Common Ground
(AP) — At a memorial for slain police
officers, President Barack Obama declared
Tuesday that a week of deeply troubling vi-
olence has seemed to expose “the deepest
fault lines of our democracy.” But he insist-
ed the nation is not as divided as it seems
and called on Americans to find common
ground in support of racial equity and jus-
tice.
Obama acknowledged that Americans
are unsettled by another mass shooting and
are seeking answers to the violence that has
sparked protests in cities and highlighted the
nation’s persistent racial divide.
Five Dallas officers were killed last
Thursday while standing guard as hundreds
of people protested the police killings of
black men in Louisiana and Minnesota ear-
lier in the week.
“It’s hard not to think sometimes that the
center might not hold, that things might get
Obama pays tribute to officers;
calls for racial healing
worse,” Obama said. “We must reject such
despair.”
He joined politicians, police officers and
families of the fallen in the wake of the
shocking slayings by a black man who said
he wanted revenge for the killings of blacks
by police.
“The soul of our city was pierced,” Dal-
las Mayor Mike Rawlings said as he wel-
comed Obama to the memorial service. It
was organized to help combat “a common
disease” of violence and honor those who
fight it, “our men and women in blue, our
peacemakers in blue.”
Rawlings spoke steps from five empty
chairs and portraits of the dead officers.
A call for national unity and solidarity
was reinforced by several speakers at the in-
terfaith service, including former President
George W. Bush, a Dallas resident, who at-
tended with his wife, Laura.
“At times it feels like the forces pulling
us apart are stronger than the forces bind-
ing us together,” Bush said. “Too often we
judge other groups by their worst examples,
while judging ourselves by our best inten-
tions. And this has strained our bonds of un-
derstanding and common purpose.”
“We want the unity of hope, affection and
higher purpose,” he said.
Obama has denounced the shooting as a
“vicious, calculated and despicable attack
on law enforcement” by a “demented” in-
dividual. And he has argued that, despite the
heated public outcry of the past week, the
country is not as divided as it may seem.
Obama’s choice of traveling companions
underscored the theme. Republican Sen.
Ted Cruz of Texas and House Democratic
Leader Nancy Pelosi of California joined
Obama on Air Force One for the flight to
Dallas. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of
Texas spoke at the service but did not travel
with the president. He said the attack was
deeply personal.
“Being a Texan doesn’t describe where
you’re from, it describes who your family
is,” the senator said.
The White House said the president
worked late into the night writing his speech
and consulting scripture for inspiration.