At a Tuesday memorial service, President Obama delved into the life stories of each of the five officers killed in last week's shooting in Dallas. He noted that Lorne Ahrens "bought dinner for a homeless man" the night before he died, that Michael Krol "came a thousand miles from his home state of Michigan to be a cop in Dallas," that Michael Smith was a "man of faith," that Patrick Zamarripa “dreamed of being a cop," and that Brent Thompson had married his wife just two weeks ago and had "their whole life together waiting before them."
As mournful as Obama was for each of the five lives lost, he also maintained hope that the country could recover from this tragedy and others that have recently struck the country. To those Americans feeling "as if the deepest fault lines of our democracy have been exposed and even widened," Obama said, "I'm here to say we must reject such despair. I'm here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Senate rejects Trump's Library of Congress takeoverspeed read Congress resisted the president's attempts to control 'the legislative branch's premier research body'
-
Marya E. Gates' 6 favorite books about women filmmakers and directorsFeature The film writer recommends works by Julie Dash, Sofia Coppola, and more
-
Donald Trump's jumbo-sized corruption | May 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Wednesday's editorial cartoons feature artificial intelligence, Democratic attempts to reach rural voters, a tariff deal with Xi Jinping, the U.S. economy, tariffs, and habeas corpus.
-
Senate rejects Trump's Library of Congress takeover
speed read Congress resisted the president's attempts to control 'the legislative branch's premier research body'
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israelspeed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
-
White Afrikaners land in US as Trump-declared refugeesspeed read An exception was made to Trump's near-total ban on admitting refugees for the white South Africans
-
Qatar luxury jet gift clouds Trump trip to Mideastspeed read Qatar is said to be presenting Trump with a $400 million plane, which would be among the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the US government
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney postspeed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff dealspeed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffsspeed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying reportspeed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
