Evil is the reason we need lots of things, not just police
The president’s speech in Dallas this week was an excellent performance of a difficult task, a task that’s inevitably political as well as moral and quasi-pastoral. After a tragedy like this, a foreign observer might assume the issues are pretty straightforward: a protest found activists and cops side by side in the street, where things stayed peaceful, even friendly. Then, from far away, deadly shots rang out. But, this being America, and this being a protest of state violence against black people, and the shots being fired by a black man targeting cops with an assault rifle, the politics are of course polarizing and tribal and explosive. So Obama had to do his job as griever in chief while balancing his words just so.
There was just one point where I thought he missed it. Near the emotional peak of his speech, Obama said this: “We know there is evil in this world. That’s why we need police departments.”
The statement is striking not because it’s false—it isn’t—but because it’s so woefully incomplete. Yes, one thing police do is respond to the results of evil in the world. But the existence of evil is also why we need protest movements, and police reform, and stronger civilian oversight. State power can be used effectively against evil; it can also embody it. That’s how evil works. So, better to continue the statement:
