Though I opposed the election of President Obama, twice, I hoped, like many others, that it would offer hope to the African American community and lower the tensions between white and black Americans. Now, at the end of two Obama terms, we have a group, #BlackLivesMatter, seething with anger, even hatred, towards the police, regardless of color, and toward white Americans in general.

Five Dallas policemen are dead and another six are wounded as result.

We also have pockets of “shooters” appearing out of nowhere, such as in Tennessee, just to kill “white people and cops.”

Social media erupted with more calls for more cop killing — see the worst of them here.

To cap it off, anyone who carried a Trump sign in public is risking physical harm, perhaps death. Attacks on Trump supporters have, sadly, become routine at his campaign events, one of the worst being in San Jose.

In the wake of the Dallas tragedy, Hillary Clinton lectures white people on why its their responsibility, and Loretta Lynch promises BlackLivesMatter that they will not lose their freedom to demonstrate. In other words, they offer comfort to the killers and blame the victims.

How do we know a violent disposition exists among these BlackLivesMatters protest.  Moments after five Dallas police were killed groups from the “peaceful” demonstration celebrated nearby and reported delight with the murders via twitter.

Jesse Jackson, predictably, blamed Donald Trump for the “anti-black” mood that fueled the Dallas shootings. The Republican National Convention promises to be a non-stop riot with various groups vowing to shut it down.

There is even a “Resist the 2016 Cleveland RNC” page on Facebook. I wonder how quickly a similar Facebook page encouraging demonstrations at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia would be shut down.

Obama, meanwhile, smiles broadly and toasts David Cameron with champagne, far away, and denies the deep division he’s helped to create in our nation. I’m sure he didn’t consider returning to the USA for more than a nano-second.

We are in serious trouble here in the United States. We desperately need new leadership who don’t care about approval from the mainstream media or the elites here and overseas. These new leaders need to simultaneously seek justice against those who commit violence and address the causes of the violence without playing the race card, as Hillary Clinton did after the Dallas killings.

Seeking justice does include addressing unnecessary police force against minorities and racial profiling.  The death of Alton Sterling confirms, once again, that there are police using their power and authority to express their prejudice through violence.  It has been reported that the Dallas shooter was motivated by the desire for “payback” against “whites” and police officers.

The unrestrained desire for “payback,” by any individual or group, will only led to further death and division. What we are witnessing, not merely in Dallas but at the Mexican border, is the stirrings of much broader conflict, a possible civil war, that will fought on the streets, first, with the police and, ultimately, with the military and private citizens. Americans, it should be noted, have been buying guns at a record pace for many months.

Can the momentum towards violence be stopped? It’s doubtful. We are in the midst of a presidential campaign that’s igniting passions never before witnessed in this generation. President Obama is the person who could do the most to calm the waters, but he seems stubbornly inclined to throw fuel on the fire.  Hillary Clinton, it appears, will do the same. Donald Trump? He has the opportunity to demonstrate a new style of leadership that might just reorient our nation.  I pray he’s up to it.