President Obama said Sunday that people who attack police do a “disservice” to efforts to reform the criminal justice system’s bias against minorities.
“Whenever those of us who are concerned about failures of the criminal justice system attack police, you are doing a disservice to the cause,” Mr. Obama said in Spain, referring to the assassination of five police officers in Dallas last week during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Mr. Obama, who is cutting short his trip to Europe to deal with the crisis, said protesters who “paint police with a broad brush, or “say things that are stupid or imprudent” risk losing ground for the reform cause.
The president also said he hopes that police organizations will be respectful of the frustrations that minority communities feel, and don’t dismiss their concerns as political correctness.
“I’d like all sides to listen to each other,” he said.
As anti-police demonstrations roiled cities in the past week from New York to St. Paul, Minnesota, to Phoenix, Arizona, some Black Lives Matter protesters have chanted slogans such as, “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon.”
The president, who repeatedly has spoken out against police bias against minorities in his second term, again sided with the thrust of the movement Sunday and portrayed the protesters’ offensive rhetoric as the actions of a few.
“In a movement like Black Lives Matter there are always going to be folks who say things that are stupid or imprudent or over generalized or harsh,” Mr. Obama said. “I don’t think that you can hold well-meaning activists who are doing the right thing, peacefully protesting, responsible for everything that is uttered at a protest site.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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