What is problematic is that he is [clearly expressing sympathy with one side in the case. If he is going to do that he needs to do it in a way that doesn't display bias. Don't sit here and try and tell me that "Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me" is not sympathizing with one side in the case. Don't even try. And he just cant resist going racial with it. And let me just leave you with – with the final thought that, as difficult and challenging as this whole episode has been for a lot of people, I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn’t mean we’re in a post-racial society. It doesn’t mean that racism is eliminated. I think that after a few years of this opportunistic celebrity community organizer POTUS in office too many people have forgotten what is appropriate behavior for a POTUS and what is not, what is beneath the office and what is not. You can't even see it anymore.
He should have come out and told Eric Holder, the worst AG in our county's history, to respect the ruling of the court in Florida and drop this. That would have shown he is a leader. The DOJ has absolutely no reason to investigate this. They are just trying to fan the racial flames. Of course from the moment Holder did nothing against the Philly Black Panthers for voter intimidation, it was quite obvious he was very racist himself. We have absolutely no business having a racist holding this country's head law enforcement position whether they are a white or black racist.
Trayvon Martin was not found guilty of assault against GZ. He was not found guilty of attempted murder. In fact Trayvon Martin had never been found guilty of any crime. GZ was not found to be innocent, just not guilty. On the night in question Trayvon Martin was minding his own business. George Zimmerman made assumptions about Trayvon Martin whether based on race or not were wrong. Had George Zimmerman not made those assumptions Trayvon would still be alive. That doesn't excuse anything Trayvon did, nor does it show that Trayvon didn't throw the first punch. He may have or he may have not. But even if he did, none of that would have happened Had Zimmerman not made the assumptions he made. I haven't accused Zimmerman of breaking the law, and it's possible that he didn't. But it's also true that even if he didn't break the law, had he not made those incorrect assumptions Trayvon Martin would still be alive. There is nothing wrong with expressing sympathy about that. The president did nothing to make this about Zimmerman being a racist. Not one thing in his speech went towards that.
Says someone who has no clue what it's like for people to assume bad things about you based on your race. We get it. You can't identify with that, and that's part of the problem being addressed in the speech.
Reverend Wrights church for years didn't promote racism. Try again. Do some research and stop relying on the media.
Making wrong assumptions is not a crime. "Better safe than sorry" is not an irrational mindset. And there is no proof his assumptions were wrong. Zimmerman was a community watch member in a neighborhood with a rash of recent crime. It was his job to be hypervigilant. He didn't even try to engage Martin, just followed him from a distance to not lose sight of him (how dare he! racist!). And for that he got his head bashed in and face pummeled. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9jrp7x-hif0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
None of that is the least bit relevant to my point. My point is that it's inappropriate for the POTUS to be commenting on a case like this beyond simple platitudes and canned responses. He covers his bases by explaining that we must all respect the verdict (good) and then goes and throws his lot in with a side in the case (bad). He should simply leave it alone until after DoJ has decided whether to prosecute for hate crimes (they won't, and he knows it - this is really just damage control for that news).
"Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me[/quote]" is not addressing the zeitgeist of the nation (purdy words, BTW)... It is expressing sympathy with one of the sides in the case. It biases any potential prosecution in the case (but we know that won't be coming anyway). It is not appropriate for a POTUS to make such comments on an open investigation. It simply isn't. Again, I think we've been desensitized because we've seen so much crap like this from this guy that we don't know what's acceptable behavior for a POTUS anymore and what isn't.
I have an issue with this line. And I am with the martin supporters on most things, but not this. In America, we are innocent until proven guilty. So being found 'not guilty' means you preserved your innocence.
Some of you continue to say this and seem to forget that Barkley absolutely thought that Trayvon was profiled because of his race and that race is a issue in America that needs to be discussed.
Such incredible irony in these comments. Who but black people care more about the black kids killed in their own communities? It's out of sight and mind for the likes of you unless you have a political point to make about a black kid being racially profiled and gunned down which is actually never the case because racial profiling only happens in Spike Lee movies. derp derp
Let me say that I do not like Obama much, and he usually does more harm than good on these topics. This speech was pretty good though. I think the part that really needs to be picked up on is fixing the genesis of the problem. The fact that young black males commit such a disproportionately high number of the crimes in America is where we need to have an open and frank discussion like Obama suggests. I think white people, for years now, have tried their best to do whatever they could to even the playing field. It's not a perfect system by any stretch. At some point though, the other side needs to start being open and honest and accepting some of the blame. I feel like 99% of the blame is being placed on society and slavery and the Jim Crow laws and law enforcement and whatever else, and very little of the blame is being accepted by the black community. Let's all accept equal parts of the blame and try to get it fixed. I am more than willing to play devil's advocate and understand why it might be tougher for a black male than it is for me, however there has to be some give coming the other way, admitting that though it may be harder, that the failings have occurred at a magnitude a couple of degrees higher than they should have all things being equal. And that some of the failings being pinned on society as a whole are really just a cop out and an excuse and that there is an avenue for black males to be successful.
Plenty of black people do look at our community so I never understand where that argument is coming from. Part of it is if you are willing to to understand why it may be harder...don't shout (not talking about you) down the conversation. As soon as someone wants to talk about race you have a section of the country that wants to pretend that we've moved WAY past it and it doesn't even need to be talked about. Just ignore it and shut up about it already. That shows no understanding at all.
jaygoogle, I think it might be a chicken or egg type thing. I am not going to talk to someone about the issue unless they meet me half way. If whichever side starts talking first places all of the blame on the other side, then the other side will get defensive and place it back on the first side. I think we have mostly moved past racism in an institutionalized sense. There are going to be certain people still that hold those values. However, I am not dumb. The society we lived in for years gave the white community a huge head start in the race to this point, so the remnants of racism are still being felt. However, I again want to say that I feel that whatever head start was given, some of that should have been closed by now. The gap should be a lot closer than it is. I feel, again, that society is doing just about all it can short of killing all racists, to get everyone up to the same level of opportunity. We have to figure out why, though, such a disproportionately large amount of crime is being committed by young black males. This is where a lot of times someone might have a rebuttal that would include racial profiling being why so many blacks are accused of crimes, which would then again cause me to leave the conversation.
