President Obama's town hall Thursday evening featuring the families of victims of police violence, civil rights activists, and law enforcement demonstrated how fraught the issue has become, and how political.
"We shouldn't get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are asking for fair treatment are somehow automatically anti-police, are trying to only look out for black lives as opposed to others," Obama said. "The phrase 'Black Lives Matter' simply refers to the notion that there's a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It's not meant to suggest that other lives don't matter. It's to suggest that other folks aren't experiencing this particular vulnerability."
"This isn't a matter of us versus them, but it's a matter of all of us, together as Americans working to solve this problem, then I think we will solve it," he continued. "It's going to take a while to get to the point where we want to be. But nobody's more hopeful than me."
He was accused by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas, noted asshole, of not doing enough to support law enforcement. "Put on the blue lights," he said in reference to previous instances of the White House being lit in colors. He also admonished the president to "'consider being careful' with his words after police confrontations so that he does not reflexively blame the officers."
"I have been unequivocal in condemning any rhetoric directed at police officers," Mr. Obama said, offering to send Mr. Patrick copies of his comments on the subject. "I appreciate the sentiment; I think it's already being expressed."
He also stressed that law enforcement wants to avoid police shootings as much as anyone else.
"It shatters them too," the president said. "I don't want a generation of young people to grow up thinking either that they have to mistrust the police or alternatively, that the police who are doing a good job and out there, taking care of their communities that they're constantly at risk not just from criminals but also because of the community mistrusts them."
"I'll be honest with you," Obama continued. "It's going to require all of us not to close ourselves off and go to corners but rather require us to come together and listen to each other."
One town hall clearly isn't going to achieve that, something Obama is more than aware of. But it was proven by Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after a New York City cop put him in a chokehold, who said she was "railroaded" when she wasn't allowed to ask a question. She called the event a "farce" that was "nothing short of full exploitation of black pain and grief." If anything, this town hall demonstrates just how difficult bridging the chasm is going to be, but how critical it is.