The son of the Louisiana man shot dead by police wants US President Barack Obama to help end racism.
The mother of a policeman pleads for ways to keep her son safe.
A single mom who has sent her son away from a rough Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhood worries over how to keep him safe when he is home on the weekends.
The US’ debate about tensions between blacks and police spilled over on Thursday into discussions over societal problems beyond any one person’s capacity to fix. At a town hall meeting recorded to be broadcast in prime time, Obama cautiously offered suggestions, but no surefire solutions.
The good news, Obama said, is at least people are finally talking about the problems.
Calling for “open hearts,” he urged Americans not to cloister themselves in separate corners.
“Because of the history of this country and the legacy of race and all the complications that are involved with that, working through these issues so that things can continue to get better will take some time,” Obama said.
As 32-year-old Philando Castile’s funeral was under way in St Paul, Minnesota, Obama took a question remotely from Diamond Reynolds, Castile’s girlfriend, who had livestreamed the aftermath of his shooting by police on Facebook.
She said she is scared for her daughter’s future and asked the president: “What do we do?”
Choosing his words carefully, Obama said it is key for officers to get to know the community they are protecting. Also critical, he said, was to better train police to avoid “implicit biases.”
“We all carry around with us some assumptions about other people,” Obama said.
If people are honest with themselves, he added, “oftentimes there is a presumption that black men are dangerous.”
He offered a rare reflection on how he felt racism had affected him, recalling how as a young boy in Hawaii, a female neighbor did not recognize him and refused to ride in the same elevator.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not