By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
The George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial invoked a national debate on race, and in the end most of Zimmerman’s supporters swear up and down the incident was never about race. Of course that can’t be 100% correct since Zimmerman thought Trayvon was a criminal even although he was not committing a crime by walking to his father’s home from the convenience store . President Obama has been vocal on the situation for a good minute, but he caught some major backlash when he said Trayvon Martin could have been him 35 years ago. The president made a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and he talked more about why he made the statement. And according to Obama, Trayvon didn’t have to be a perfect kid to get justice from a justice system that is supposed to work for everyone. He says:
“I think all of us were troubled by what happened, and any of us who are parents can imagine the heartache that those parents went through. It doesn’t mean that Trayvon was a perfect kid, none of us were…You’re a teenager, especially a teenage boy, you’re gonna mess up and you won’t always have the best judgment.
“But what I think all of us agree to s that we should have a criminal justice system that is fair, that’s just, and what I wanted to try to explain was why this was a partiuclalry sensitive topic for African-American families because a lot of people who have sons know the experience they had being followed or being viewed suspiciously.”
The president also went on to say that the high levels of crime involving blacks doesn’t give the Zimmermans of the world a pass:
“We all know that young African-American men disproportionately have involvement in criminal activities and violence, for a lot of reasons, a lot of them having to do with poverty, a lot of them having to do with disruptions in their neighborhoods and their communities, failing schools and all those things. And that’s no excuse, but what we also believe in is that people, everybody, should be treated fairly and the system should work for everyone.”
Well said. Check out the clip below:
Love my President!
It’s sad so many of GZ’s supporters just refuse to use any logic when it comes to this.
Well of they had any logic to begin with they wouldn’t be so ignorant when it comes to race.
I believe that ‘seeing logic’ would require them to admit some degree of culpability and thus would compel them to either feel guilt about their role in this cycle of idiocy or get off their collective couches and actually ‘change’, neither of which are easy to do. It’s MUCH easier to cast the blame on the ‘other’ and live in their happy oblivion.
Only intelligent people with hearts understand why what happened to Trayvon was not right. Kudos to Obama for speaking the truth and not letting the backlash silence him.
Ok he can only SPEAK on it?!?! He’s the effin President. No appeals? All words no actions. Chamer with tongues
YASSS!
Agreed.
I love it. Very well said.
Yes I agree but what really bothers me is how people continuously bring up so called character issues of a 17 year old teenager but won’t bring up GZ character issues that in itself shows that African Americans are judged to a harsher standard. I wish people would watch the clip of MSNBC commentator Martin Bashir on Trayvon Martin please look it up on youtube.
I think that people think it’s a zero sum game. I win and you lose… when in actuality when something like this happens we ALL lose. Black people lose even more trust in the legal system. We lose more faith in the majority of this country in general. Other races lose their connection with their own humanity in my opinion. We become more fractured and divided as a nation. It’s a lose-lose situation all around. I’m headed to look at the Martin Bashir clip.
Agreed. This hatful crime and you wanna bring up how he didn’t always do his chores! We NEED GOD in our Government!
Love this man.
Well said…
Truth!!!
I don’t think I could have said it any better.
Very well said Mr. President! I love it!