President Barack Obama heads to Dallas on Tuesday for a memorial service. He’ll be joined by first lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden. The White House invited congressional leaders of both parties to travel with him aboard Air Force One.
Aides declined to preview the precise message Obama will bring to Dallas. But Earnest emphasized concerns about racial disparities in law enforcement, and repeated several times that the president is “intensely frustrated” that he’s been unable to curb access to guns.
Texans calling for Obama to address police support, gun control, slavery reparations
Yahcanon, national minister of information for the People’s New Black Panther Party:
“I would like for him to focus on the root cause of the problem,” he said. “What he’s going to come in and say is that … he wants unity and peace and this and that. But we didn’t get here because somebody decided one day to shoot police officers. Time and time and time again, we’re seeing young innocent black people being murdered by police.”
He said he was frustrated by Obama’s unwillingness to cross a political line and talk about how slavery has long impacted blacks in America. “I would love to see President Obama address that and to have him talk about reparations,” he said. “It’s important because blacks in America have been damaged. When something has been damaged, you need to repair it.”
Obama gun control message ‘not welcome in Texas’ warn residents ahead of Dallas visit
The president will visit at the request of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in a bid to help restore unity and quell the ongoing protests nationwide over racial discrimination and police brutality towards America’s black population. But also, he is expected to raise once more the need to tighten gun laws in the wake of another mass shooting.
