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U.S. President Barack Obama has warned that attacks on police over
racial bias would hurt the anti-racism Black Lives Matter movement, days
after a sniper killed five police officers in Dallas in apparent
revenge for police shootings of black people.
Obama said although
most activists from the Black Lives Matter movement wanted to see better
relations between communities and law enforcement, violence and overly
broad criticism against police undermined the protest movement.
"I
want to say to everyone concerned about.. racial bias in the criminal
justice system that maintaining a truthful, serious and respectful tone
is going to help mobilize American society to bring about real change,"
Obama said.
Micah Johnson, a black U.S. military veteran of the Afghan war,
opened fire on police officers on Thursday during a protest in Dallas
against the fatal shootings of two black men by police in Louisiana and
Minnesota the previous day.
Johnson wanted to "kill white people,
especially white officers," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said after
the attack on Thursday night.
The Black Lives Matter group said on
Friday it advocated dignity, not murder, in response to the shooting
that also left seven other police officers and two civilians wounded.
Obama
said there was legitimate criticism to be made of the criminal justice
system and that citizens should continue to protest against it.
"I
would hope that police organizations are also respectful of the
frustrations that people in these communities feel and not just dismiss
these protests as political correctness or politics or attacks on
police," he said. Newsweek
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