You wouldn’t know it from media coverage, but Attorney General William Barr struck the right tone before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Barr acknowledged that concerns of black Americans about treatment by law enforcement had a legitimate basis while stating unequivocally that armed mobs that have deviated far from the original stated purpose of peaceful protests have no place in our cities.

In his opening statement, Barr acknowledged that “given our history, it is understandable that, among black Americans, there is at least some ambivalence, and often distrust, toward the police. Until just the last 50 years or so, our laws and institutions were explicitly discriminatory.”