CHATTANOOGA – Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) expressed support for law enforcement officials and called for unity after recent tragedies in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas.
“It’s the number one responsibility that we have is to keep our citizens safe and secure,” Corker said. “But the fact is that it’s a breakdown in society when things like what happened in Dallas where there’s moral depravity of this individual, took the lives of people who were protecting folks who were demonstrating peacefully. That is something that all of us should cry out about and show support for these men and women in uniform that do what they do on a daily basis, mostly supported, but in so many cases feeling like they’re under assault by the general public.”
He continued, “When one of their officers, when someone acts out inappropriately, it hurts them, too,” added Corker. “But the fact is, mostly, these are selfless people who are protecting our citizens, causing kids to be able to go to school and people to be able to go to work. That’s what we ought to be talking about is their greatness – there are flaws that exist – but their greatness, what they do on our behalf.”
Asked about rhetoric and divisiveness, Corker expressed hope that our nation will rise to the occasion and focus on unity, not division, in the aftermath of recent tragedies.
“It is my hope, again, after this tremendous crisis that has occurred, this tragedy, that our country will focus more on unity and not division,” concluded Corker.
Corker served as mayor of Chattanooga from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure, he worked with local law enforcement officials to cut violent crime in half.
