--- title: Dallas Shooting: President Obama Speaks at Memorial Service description: President Barack Obama spoke Tuesday at a memorial service in Dallas, calling on Americans to forge consensus and fight cynicism canonical: https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-12T20:30:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:12:36.982Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Speech From the Dallas Memorial Service og:description: "The pain we feel may not soon pass, but my faith tells me that they did not die in vain" og:url: https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f4c71990a3dea4/69889ba5ab6d77bc0a6aa6c6/president-obama-dallas-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama Addresses Interfaith Memorial Service For Fallen Dallas Police Officers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Speech From the Dallas Memorial Service twitter:description: "The pain we feel may not soon pass, but my faith tells me that they did not die in vain" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f4c71990a3dea4/69889ba5ab6d77bc0a6aa6c6/president-obama-dallas-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Speech From the Dallas Memorial Service  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 8:30 PM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers remarks during an interfaith memorial service, honoring five slain police officers, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on July 12, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. President Barack Obama delivers remarks during an interfaith memorial service, honoring five slain police officers, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on July 12, 2016 in Dallas, Texas.Tom Pennington/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 8:30 PM UTC President Barack Obama spoke Tuesday at a [memorial service in Dallas](http://time.com/4401886/dallas-shooting-barack-obama-visit/) for the five police officers [killed in an ambush](http://time.com/4400385/dallas-black-lives-matter-ngan-police-shootings/) last week, calling on Americans to [forge consensus](http://time.com/4399947/president-obama-u-s-division-dallas/) and fight cynicism. “I understand how Americans are feeling,” Obama said. “But Dallas, I’m here to say we must reject such despair. I’m here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem. And I know that because I know America. I know how far we’ve come against impossible odds.” Here are his remarks from the service at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center: --- > “” --- **Read more:** [Dallas Doubtful That President Obama Can Bridge Its Divide](http://time.com/4401886/dallas-shooting-barack-obama-visit/) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Speech From the Dallas Memorial Service","datePublished":"2016-07-12T20:30:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:12:36.982Z","description":"\"The pain we feel may not soon pass, but my faith tells me that they did not die in vain\"","url":"https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Dallas","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f4c71990a3dea4/69889ba5ab6d77bc0a6aa6c6/president-obama-dallas-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f4c71990a3dea4/69889ba5ab6d77bc0a6aa6c6/president-obama-dallas-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Addresses Interfaith Memorial Service For Fallen Dallas Police Officers","caption":"Obama Addresses Interfaith Memorial Service For Fallen Dallas Police Officers","creditText":"Tom Pennington/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4403543/president-obama-dallas-shooting-memorial-service-speech-transcript/","name":"Read President Obama's Speech From the Dallas Memorial Service"}}]}] ```