WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) — The United States’ two presumptive presidential nominees on Friday weighed in on the deadly shootings that killed five Dallas police officers and wounded nine other people.
Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump each offered a response to the sniper attack during a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Dallas Thursday night.
Trump said the recent shooting deaths of two black men by police and the sniper attack on police officers in Dallas are evidence “racial tensions have gotten worse, not better,” and called for restoring “law and order.”
Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Miami Friday, but that event was postponed.
Later Friday, Trump released a longer statement on his Facebook page, saying both the police killings posted online of black men during traffic stops and the sniper attack in apparent retaliation are examples of a nation that’s off course.
“We must restore law and order. We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street,” the billionaire said. “The senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists in Louisiana and Minnesota reminds us how much more needs to be done.
Clinton, who is expected to become the Democratic nominee at the DNC convention this month, was scheduled to appear alongside Vice President Joe Biden at a rally in his hometown Scranton, Pa., where she was also supposed to hold a campaign fundraiser. Both of those events have been put off.
Clinton did deliver remarks during an observance of the 200th anniversary of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on Friday.
Video: Politico
“We know there is something wrong in this country,” she said. “There is too much violence, too much hate, too much senseless killing. Too many people dead who shouldn’t be.”
“The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference,” she added. “None of us can afford to feel indifferent to each other. Not now, not ever.”
Earlier Friday, Clinton told CNN that the Dallas attack is a “call to action” that she will effectively handle as president.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson responded to the killings as well, citing the nation’s long-simmering “war on drugs” as the root cause of mistrust between minorities and law enforcement. While Johnson stopped short of saying drugs were directly responsible for either the police killings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, or for the sniper attack on officers in Dallas, Johnson said the nation’s drug policy and mass incarceration for drug-related offenses have fostered the deep divide between the two groups.
“The root is the war on drugs, I believe. Police knocking down doors, shooting first,” Johnson told Politico on Friday. “If you are (black and) arrested in a drug-related crime, there is four times more likelihood of going to prison than if you are white. And shooting is part of the same phenomenon.
“That’s the common thread. Shootings are occurring with black people, black people are dying. This is an escalation.”
Instead of treating drug abuse as a law enforcement issue, Johnson said society should treat it as a public health issue, which would help ease tensions on both sides.
