Police and protesters in Dallas on July 7, 2016, after one person is arrested

What's behind the shootings in Dallas, Minnesota, Louisiana: U of T experts

U of T News

Just hours after U.S. President Barack Obama addressed police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana he faced cameras again – this time to address the killings of five police officers at a Dallas rally to protest police violence.

The Dallas shootings, which ended with one suspect dead, three in custody and seven people wounded, were “a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement,” Obama told reporters. Just a few hours earlier, he had taken the unusual step of posting on social media about the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota,  saying Americans should be “deeply troubled” by their deaths.

“We've seen such tragedies far too many times,” Obama wote. “They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.”

U of T News is asking experts from a wide range of disciplines for their insights into these events, including UTM professors Judith Andersen and Akwasi Osuwu-Bempah.

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