Consider This Photo After The Dallas Shooting

On Thursday night at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, snipers wreaked mayhem, gunning down 11 police officers in the line of duty. Many of the officers were rushed to Baylor Medical Center. It was here that this photo of a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer being comforted was taken. One of his fellow officers and four from the Dallas Police Department died; the six others' conditions vary. The emotion in the below photo drives home the sacrifices that the police make are very real. No violence against them can be tolerated — even when emotions regarding police violence are high.

That was the message Pres. Obama delivered from Warsaw, Poland, where he is attending a NATO summit:

I believe I speak for every single American when I say that we are horrified over these events and we are united with the people and the police department in Dallas. According to police there are multiple suspects. We will learn more undoubtedly about their twisted motivations, but let’s be clear; there is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement.

This was his second time in as many days addressing the nation from the two-day summit. On Thursday, Obama spoke about the recent killings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. These two police shootings stemmed the Dallas protest Thursday. Sterling was killed by police outside a food mart where he was selling CDs. Castile was killed by an officer during a routine traffic stop. His fiancée was in the car, as was her 4-year-old daughter.

Obama said that the killing of black Americans by police is not a black issue but an American issue. He said, "We are better than this." But he acknowledged that many police officers do a fantastic job. He addressed the police directly Thursday — before the shootings in Dallas:

So to all of law enforcement, I want to be very clear: we know you have a tough job. We mourn those in uniform who are protecting us who lose their lives ... But I repeat, if communities are mistrustful of the police, that makes those law enforcement officers who are doing a great job, and are doing the right thing, it makes their lives harder. So, when people say ‘black lives matter,’ it doesn’t mean ‘blue lives’ don’t matter, it just means all lives matter. But right now, the big concern is the fact that data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents.

That was a very important message. In no way does the Black Lives Matter movement support violence against police — or anyone. That's the whole point. So in light of the brutal killing of these officers, it is important to honor their sacrifices in the line of duty. No amount of police violence justifies the attack and murder of police officers.

Obama reiterated this with his comments Friday:

Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us. We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic. And in the days ahead we are going to have to consider those realities as well. In the meantime our focus is on the victims and their families.

Police across America – it’s a tight-knit family – feels this loss to their core, and we are grieving with them. As a nation, let’s remember to express our profound gratitude to our men and women in blue, not just today, but every day.

Their sacrifices are enormous and the families of the officers that were killed need to be honored and comforted in the days to come. The pained emotion on this DART officers face makes it extremely clear what they're going for.