President Obama Will Visit Dallas Tuesday, Attend Interfaith Memorial Service
#151; -- Following a tumultuous weekend overseas, the White House has announced President Obama will visit Dallas on Tuesday to memorialize the five police officers slain during a peaceful protest last week.
Obama plans deliver remarks at an interfaith memorial service for the officers, his visit to the grief-stricken city comes following an invitation from Dallas Mayor Rawlings, the White House announced today.
The president will also meet privately with the families of the police officers killed in the shooting, the White House said.
Former President George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, and Vice President Joe Biden will also attend the interfaith service, and Bush will also deliver remarks, the White House said.
Arriving in Europe late Thursday night, Obama immediately sought to address rising tensions at home by delivering a statement on the shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Just hours later, gun shots rang out in Dallas as a lone sniper took aim at police officers who were monitoring a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. The sniper killed five officers and wounded seven.
Obama was woken up by his national security team by the shocking news, and according to the White House he has had little sleep over the weekend juggling international meetings at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland, with disturbing developments back home.
In various statements throughout his visit, Obama has looked to downplay headlines depicting an ongoing crisis in America.
"As tough, as hard, as depressing as the loss of life was this week, we've got a foundation to build on," Obama said in a press conference Saturday. "We just have to have to confidence that we can build on those better angels of our nature."
Obama will work to calm nerves not just through his trip to Dallas Tuesday, but through a meeting between law enforcement, community activists and civil rights leaders at the White House next week.
"I want to start moving on constructive actions that are actually going to make a difference, because that is what all Americans want," Obama said.
