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Obama Speaks in Dallas at Slain Officers’ Memorial
- Updated: July 22, 2016
Rights groups in Dallas want to keep the focus on ending police violence against blacks. Photo: Slabbers/iStockphoto
by Mark Richardson
DALLAS – Dallas began the healing process Tuesday, July 12th following the shooting deaths of five police officers by a lone sniper during a Black Lives Matter protest the previous week.
President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and Vice President Joe Biden were among the planned speakers at an interfaith memorial service.
While organizers of the previous week’s Dallas protest say they deeply mourn the loss of the officers’ lives, they want to be sure the focus does not move away from the deaths of black men at the hands of police.
Danna Miller Pyke, a longtime activist with Mothers Against Police Brutality, says despite reports to the contrary, major problems do exist in Dallas between the police and people of color.
“Our complaint is that Dallas has a tendency to make nice and pretend like there’s not a problem with police brutality,” she states. “However, when you look at the numbers, there really is a problem and there are several things that we have a specific issue with.”
The Dallas Police Department points to statistics showing that since 2012, the number of officer-involved shootings is down, along with the number of excessive-force complaints.
But Pyke says Dallas remains a very segregated city, with few economic opportunities in poor neighborhoods, where she says fatal encounters between blacks and police still occur too often.
Pyke stresses groups such as hers work with and have good relations with Dallas police. But she says problems within the culture of local law enforcement officials, including police, prosecutors and elected officials, keep minorities at a disadvantage.
“We have some good cops,” she states. “However, we have a system that is so systemically stacked against people of color that even the good cops become a part of that system.”
Pyke says groups in Dallas such as Black Lives Matter, Mothers Against Police Brutality and others plan to continue peaceful protests and will take other actions to halt police violence and misconduct.
