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Racial wounds rip open under a president with a history of exploiting them

“The latest incident really touched my heart and I just wanted to do my part. It’s very important. Our black men are being killed for no reason — it feels like a family member. It hurts so deep,” Ford said. She said the president’s response has been “cold.”

“I don’t think he knows how to address a situation like this because he is ignorant. Anyone with feelings or emotions speaks from the heart and this man doesn’t know how to do that,“ she added.

The White House said Trump’s record as a private citizen and president is one of “fighting for inclusion and advocating for the equal treatment of all,” said deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere.

“Anyone who suggests otherwise is only seeking to sow division and ignore the president’s work for underserved communities, including during his time in office with groundbreaking criminal justice reform, the creation of Opportunity Zones, building the most inclusive economy in American history, and prioritizing our Nation’s HBCUs,” Deere said.

By late evening on Saturday, military police from D.C.’s National Guard had arrived in front of the White House to bolster the police presence. Maj. Gen. William Walker, the local commander, said they had been sent by the secretary of the Army at the request of the U.S. Park Police.

Demonstrators nonetheless sparred with police well into the night along 16th St., a major north-south thoroughfare that divides the city in two, setting a vehicle ablaze. Plumes of smoke could be seen wafting near the Washington Monument, the distinctive and symbolic obelisk on the National Mall.

In similarly calamitous scenes the country, rioters hijacked peaceful protests, clashing with police and vandalizing storefronts, smashing windows and spray-painting anti-police slogans on buildings.

In New York City, violence erupted anew on Saturday night as a police vehicle was set ablaze and video captured a another police vehicle plowing through protesters who were throwing cones, garbage bags and water bottles at the cops.

Mayor Bill De Blasio blamed protesters he said came to the city from out of town to incite violence against police officers, echoing claims by leader in other cities despite evidence that much, if not most of the chaos was homegrown.

“Anyone who is a peaceful protester, it’s time to go home. The point’s been made,” de Blasio said during a brief television interview Saturday night. He defended the response of the city’s police, though said he regretted the incident had escalated to the point of violence.

“I’m not going to blame officers who were trying to deal with an absolutely impossible situation,” de Blasio said at a subsequent press conference in Brooklyn Saturday night. “I wish the officers had found a different approach but let’s begin at the beginning — the protesters in that video did the wrong thing to surround that police car, period.”

Source: politico.com
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