President Obama goes beyond simply offering his condolences during Dallas memorial

In Dallas, former President George W Bush and President Obama, whose jobs have included more than the usual number of calls and visits to bereaved families, were there to do it again on Tuesday. Both offered condolences, but it was clear President Obama was determined to go beyond that.

President Obama’s speech at the memorial for the five fallen Dallas officers was not just to offer comfort — or to praise the officers who ran toward the gunfire Thursday — although it included both those things. His theme was that both police officers and the victims of unwarranted police violence are trapped in a system that we as a society have chosen not to fix.

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“As a society, we choose to under-invest in decent schools,” President Obama said. “We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful employment. We refuse to fund drug treatment and mental health programs. We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.

“And then we tell the police, ‘You’re a social worker; you’re the parent; you’re the teacher; you’re the drug counselor.’ We tell them to keep those neighborhoods in check at all costs and do so without causing any political blowback or inconvenience – ‘Don’t make a mistake that might disturb our own peace of mind.’ And then, we feign surprise when periodically the tensions boil over.”

But he also recounted the story of demonstrator Shetamia Taylor, the mother of four sons, whose life was saved by police officers that night.

“She said she wanted her boys to join her to protest incidents of black men being killed. She also said to the Dallas PD: ‘Thank you for being heroes.’ And today, her 12-year-old son wants to be a cop when he grows up. That’s the America I know.”

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