Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Two black men—Alton Sterling and Philando Castille — were murdered by police in Minnesota and Louisiana. In response to the outrage, a sniper attack in Dallas took the lives of five officers. Our country has been rattled… Numb and in disbelief.  Suspicion and division has fueled a racism that has led to this and we're learning a painful lesson that when injustice is perpetrated toward any member of community, the entire community suffers. When we see injustice, we must protect the innocent. However, we have to be willing to talk in moral categories, to have the conservation about right and wrong.  As we seek healing and unity in our country, let’s be willing to see people as individuals first, without reducing them to categories or a movement. And let’s acknowledge that what our culture needs more urgently than political solutions is personal virtue.