Four years after officers killed in ambush, Dallas struggles to reconcile legacy with ongoing unrest – By Marc Ramirez (Dallas Morning News) / July 6 2020
Structural change “is not a microwave moment,” one pastor says.
The Rev. Frederick Haynes says he’ll mark the fourth anniversary Tuesday of one of Dallas’ darkest days in a simple way: by praying for the families that were devastated by the killing of five police officers.
“It was a heartbreaking, horrific tragedy,” the Friendship-West Baptist Church pastor said.
But complex emotions surround the remembrance of the men who’d been helping to ensure a safe protest downtown when they were ambushed July 7, 2016. For Haynes, the lingering grief for those who lost their lives and sympathy for the people who cared about them are accompanied by dismay and frustration over what some feel was a squandered opportunity to harness the energy of a united community to address social ills.
Haynes believes the lofty intentions of that time were sincere, but structural change “requires a marathon mentality.”
Continue to article: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2020/07/06/four-years-after-officers-killed-in-ambush-dallas-struggles-to-reconcile-legacy-with-ongoing-unrest/
