Caring Obama’s Words Of Comfort For A Brave 12-Year-Old (VIDEO)

President Obama has once again shown his unique compassion, wisdom and basic human decency, in a televised conversation with 12-year-old Jamar Taylor.

Jamar suffered the traumatic ordeal of being caught in the crossfire when a sniper shot at police officers in Dallas on July 7th. The widely reported attack killed five officers and wounded seven, along with two civilians. Those casualties included Jamar’s mother Shetamia, who was shot through the leg.

Brave officers formed a human shield around Shetamia, Jamar and his three brothers until it was safe to hustle them away from the firing line. Describing the moment to The Dallas Morning News, Shetamia said:

“There was another [officer] at our feet, and another over our head… Several of them lined against a wall and stayed there with us… I’ve never seen anything like that, the way they just came around us and guarded us like that.”

Jamar was so inspired by their heroism, he has decided he wants to be a policeman too. Invited to a meeting in Washington on race relations and policing, which aired live on ABC, he told President Obama:

“The reason I want to be a police officer is I want to try to make this world a better place, as much as I can. And I want to tell kids and adults that not all police officers are bad.”

Visibly moved, President Obama assured Jamar he would make an outstanding officer, and his parents are proud of him. Noting that Shetamia’s leg wound is still healing, he lightened the mood by saying:

“Police are there to serve and protect. You can start practising now by serving your mom – doing some dishes, maybe cooking a little bit.”

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More seriously, he added that he met Jamar’s parents around the same time as he met the families of the fallen officers, describing it as:

“The hardest thing I do as president, trying to comfort a family who just lost somebody.” 

He told Jamar and the audience:

“You had some white children who had lost their father, you had Latino children who had lost their father, you have African American families who lost their fathers. And I can tell you, the grief is the same, the loss is the same.

“And when I’m hugging those kids and telling them it’s going to be OK, the only way I can deliver on that promise is if we make sure that all of us are looking out for all of those children. We have an obligation to them, each and every one of them.

“That’s something I’m committed to, not just as a president but as a father myself.”

Watch the conversation in full here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vjsuKZyS4Q

Image is a YouTube screengrab.