The President Gives His View ...

[My Looh]

... on the Zimmerman/Martin case.

Says he was Trevon. I aplaud his speaking out, although many are upset that he spoke on an individual case.

[RichD]

I think its a perfect opportunity to address these issues again .

i don't see it as him commenting on a specific case but more him explaining the mood of a section of the population.

people who want to continue to turn a blind eye will bring up the smokescreen of "he is meddling in the justice system"

"if the president doesn't trust the justice system who can?" "he is dividing the country" "he is picking sides"

[Tropicana]

Here is his original statement from Sunday:

"The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that's a job for all of us. That's the way to honor Trayvon Martin."

Today's statement:

Here is the press conference:

REPORTERS: Whoa!
Q: Hello.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: That’s so -- that’s so disappointing, man. Jay, is this kind of -- the kind of respect that you get? (Laughter.)
Q: Wake up!
Q: What brings you out here, Mr. --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, on -- on -- on television it usually looks like you’re addressing a full room.
Q: (Laughs.) It’s just a mirage.
Q: There’s generally not --
PRESIDENT OBAMA: All right.
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Inaudible) -- got the Detroit story.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I got you. All right. Sorry about that. Do you think anybody else is showing up? Good.
Well, I -- I wanted to come out here first of all to tell you that Jay is prepared for all your questions and is -- is very much looking forward to the session.
Second thing is I want to let you know that over the next couple of weeks there are going to obviously be a whole range of issues -- immigration, economics, et cetera -- we’ll try to arrange a fuller press conference to address your questions.
The reason I actually wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week, the issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave an -- a preliminary statement right after the ruling on Sunday, but watching the debate over the course of the last week I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little bit.
First of all, you know, I -- I want to make sure that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle’s, to the family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity with which they’ve dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they’re going through, and it’s -- it’s remarkable how they’ve handled it.
The second thing I want to say is to reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there are going to be a lot of arguments about the legal -- legal issues in the case. I’ll let all the legal analysts and talking heads address those issues.
The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a -- in a case such as this, reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury’s spoken, that’s how our system works.
But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling. You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African- American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that -- that doesn’t go away.
There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me.

And there are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.
And you know, I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear.

The African-American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws, everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.
Now, this isn’t to say that the African-American community is naive about the fact that African-American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, that they are disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. It’s not to make excuses for that fact, although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context.
We understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history.
And so the fact that sometimes that’s unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of African-American boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuse is given, well, there are these statistics out there that show that African-American boys are more violent -- using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain.
I think the African-American community is also not naive in understanding that statistically somebody like Trayvon Martin was probably statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else.
So -- so folks understand the challenges that exist for African- American boys, but they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there’s no context for it or -- and that context is being denied. And -- and that all contributes,

I think, to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.

Now, the question for me at least, and I think, for a lot of folks is, where do we take this? How do we learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction? You know, I think it’s understandable that there have been demonstrations and vigils and protests, and some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through as long as it remains nonviolent. If I see any violence, then I will remind folks that that dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin and his family.

Continued: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...4_story_2.html

[jah_yout]

wow i'm surprised...must have been thinking about his legacy with no re-election issues on the horizon...I applaud him for doing it

[Tropicana]

I have always hoped that after the mid-term elections with nothing to lose, Obama would make some significant changes. Hope I am not being naive. If onoo give Republicans control of the House, it will be tough for him to make meaningful change.

[My Looh]

wow i'm surprised...must have been thinking about his legacy with no re-election issues on the horizon...I applaud him for doing it

Agreed!

He had to distance himself from Rev. Wright to get elected. Now with no need to worry about re-election... this!

[blugiant]

mixxed race man practicawllee sed doan xxpekk imm peeps fe charge zimmerman cat itt a state ann local issue

mii wandar iff dat to pacify sum aff peeps woo aggoo protest tommorrow by chattinn pon da issue widdout seyinn aneeting affsubstance

[Emperah]

typical scripted sell out BULLSHHHHHHHHH
I applaud dis man of nothing, he would have to an about face pan many many many many tings b4 I n I even crack a smile.

[Tropicana]

Actually, this talk was impromptu...it wasn't scripted. This is interesting.

In the midst of his impromptu speech on Friday about the Trayvon Martin case and broader issues of race in the nation, President Barack Obama recalled his own past encounters with racial bias and profiling. Long before he had a Secret Service detail to shadow him, the president remembered, he was followed as he perused department stores. His remarks led Katie Rosman of the Wall Street Journal to recall an occasion when Obama was mistaken for a waiter at a swanky party in 2003.Then a little-known Illinois state senator who'd only recently embarked on a U.S. Senate campaign, Obama had looked out of place at the gathering of prominent journalists, Rosman wrote in 2008, noting that he was "one of a few black people in attendance."
Rosman approached Obama and spoke with him for a while about his political career, not knowing that the man would one day go on to win his Senate election and eventually his race for the nation's highest office. She said what struck her most, however, was what a fellow party-goer told her after her conversation with Obama:

But what I will always remember is as I was leaving that party in 2003, I was approached by another guest, an established author. He asked about the man I had been talking to. Sheepishly he told me he didn’t know that Obama was a guest at the party, and had asked him to fetch him a drink. In less than six years, Obama has gone from being mistaken for a waiter among the New York media elite, to the president-elect.

What a country.

I remember my Dad getting ticked because whenever he went to the train station, he was always mistaken for a porter.

When we were at Black Creek Pioneer Village, he was at the Doctor's House and someone asked him if he was the Doctor's Porter. Not even a year later, we were at Upper Canada Village and he was sitting outside the doctor's house and someone commented "Regard, c'est le porteur demédecine". He was not amused. Man that was a long time ago...I was pregnant then.

[jah_yout]

typical scripted sell out BULLSHHHHHHHHH
I applaud dis man of nothing, he would have to an about face pan many many many many tings b4 I n I even crack a smile.

since I've actually watched the speech I have a few issues myself...it's still surface stuff and definitely does not get to the root of the problem

[blugiant]

wat do oonnoo tink bout mixxed race man argument dat no race dialogue needed cah we onlee need fe chatt bout da issue?

sund like imm fallawinn oyinbo prosecutors lead dat produce zimmerman acquittal

[Tropicana]

wat do oonnoo tink bout mixxed race man argument dat no race dialogue needed cah we onlee need fe chatt bout da issue?

He said dialogue was needed.

[jah_yout]

wat do oonnoo tink bout mixxed race man argument dat no race dialogue needed cah we onlee need fe chatt bout da issue?

sund like imm fallawinn oyinbo prosecutors lead dat produce zimmerman acquittal

joke ting dem a deal wid...i think obama was pressured into saying something because his silence, being "the first black president", was deafening... nothing of real substance was said, & it was obviously calculated for him to do it late on a friday after the media would be in weekend mode...america is waaaaayyyy far from any meaningful talks on the issue of race; it simply can not face its history or reality...it's just too uncomfortable for too many people

[RichD]

joke ting dem a deal wid...i think obama was pressured into saying something because his silence, being "the first black president", was deafening... nothing of real substance was said, & it was obviously calculated for him to do it late on a friday after the media would be in weekend mode...america is waaaaayyyy far from any meaningful talks on the issue of race; it simply can not face its history or reality...it's just too uncomfortable for too many people

so who was able to apply that pressure now that had no power to apply pressure before?

it was not done late on friday.. it was mid day friday .. instead of Jay Carney giving the usual Press briefing Obama walked in unannounced and gave his talk.

[jah_yout]

so who was able to apply that pressure now that had no power to apply pressure before?

no person, per se...just the overwhelming public, media & social response-- the sheer worldwide controversy it stirred; i'm sure his handlers told him he better say something or risk his legacy as the first "black" president...just nothing too deep---more of the same blind racial anecdotes without background info or root causes...

it was not done late on friday.. it was mid day friday .. instead of Jay Carney giving the usual Press briefing Obama walked in unannounced and gave his talk.

no matter how you want to spin it...friday after the morning news cycle is basically week-end mode...the slowest news time...which i'm sure they calculated in order to soften the inevitable blow-back