As of July 21, 32 police officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2016. We join the nation in mourning.

We also join the nation in decrying the violence in our country, much of it racially charged violence that is, unfortunately, all too familiar in the United States.

Those hoping to lead our nation for the next four years will address their political parties’ conventions this week and next. We hope what we will hear is not rhetoric but concrete ideas on how to improve public safety and heal the racial divide that exists in our country.

Voices past and present echo that call.

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1928-1968)

“I’m tired physically and emotionally. Disappointed in some family, friends and officers for some reckless comments, but hey what’s in your heart is in your heart. I still love you all because hate takes too much energy … These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart.” — Baton Rouge Police Officer Montrell Jackson, after the fatal police shooting of Baton Rouge resident Alton Sterling. Jackson was killed in the line of duty on July 17.

“Five days ago, I traveled to Dallas for the memorial service of the officers who were slain there.  I said that that killer would not be the last person who tries to make us turn on each other. Nor will today’s killer. It remains up to us to make sure that they fail. That decision is all of ours. The decision to make sure that our best selves are reflected across America, not our worst — that’s up to us.

“We have our divisions, and they are not new … And that is why it is so important that everyone — regardless of race or political party or profession, regardless of what organizations you are a part of — everyone right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further.  We don’t need inflammatory rhetoric … We need to temper our words and open our hearts — all of us.” — President Obama, July 17, after the deaths of three Baton Rouge police officers.

“In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. … We can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love …

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country …” — Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.