Forum Post: I dont think this is his final word on the subject - or his final ACTION
Posted 11 years ago on July 19, 2013, 3:21 p.m. EST by bensdad
(8977)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
President Barack Obama has said that "Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago", in his first comments on the case since last week's verdict.
The unarmed black 17-year-old was shot and killed in Florida in February 2012.
George Zimmerman, 29, said he opened fire on the teenager in self-defence and was acquitted of murder by a Florida court last week.
In an unexpected press call, Mr Obama said very few black men in the US had not experienced racial profiling.
Mr Obama said the pain that African Americans felt around the case came from the fact that they viewed it through "a set of experiences and a history that doesn't go away".
He shared his experiences of being racially profiled in the past, such as being followed when shopping in a department store.
"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.
"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 has a chance to get off."
He also hailed the "grace and dignity" of Trayvon Martin's parents in the way that they reacted to the verdict.
And this is very rough thing to say, but there has been very few white people who dont live in the cities who haven't had their news plastered with people of dark skin color murdering people in their cities. If you are 40 years old, chances are you have been seeing it your entire adult life.
Its a very tough thing to say, but how often do we expect teh average person, especially Americans (not too bright) to see something like that and not eventually, over the course of decades, and not develop a fear?
There's a reason all the gangster rap and stuff is so widespread, it furthers the divide.
Theres some serious shit going on in the cities, between those who want to straighten things up, and those who want to bask in the glory of violence and crime. The second one is really fucking it up for the first.
PS- anyone who is bombing Africa should really keep their mouth shut when it comes to human/civil/racial rights. Right?
mostly I remember
a black man getting killed by cops
while trying to break into his house (having lock himself out)
in a white neighborhood
Well put, Tiki, though few would admit to it. The racial divide is one of the most effective tools in the 'TPTB toolbox,' It's exactly why the media focuses largely on black crime, the reason the media has glorified the gangster lifestyle the past few decades. The last thing the big guys want is a unified pissed-off populace. It's what got Dr. King assassinated, among others. It's why this minor case, relatively speaking, has been kept at the forefront of the news since last year.
Honestly, TikiJ, a lot of the problems in our society today reach back to the failures of Reconstruction. Slaves were freed, yes, but it was hard enough to have been a slave, right? Torture, families separated, no education, working for no pay, owned by other humans! etc. How do you just start over after that? Hard enough.But, they were also emancipated with no capital and had to start out from scratch with nothing. There was talk about giving slaves 40 acres and a mule but this never came to pass. I always wonder what our society would be like today had they given them that. Also, slaves were only freed 4 or 5 generations ago. So, the legacy of slavery is still with us today. It doesn't just go away.
Here is a link to Obama's full speech which I think was pretty remarkable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHBdZWbncXI
It's worth watching the entire thing, I think.
Well said. It's no secret black crime is rampant. Especially black on black crime. In reality it's the black community who should be more concerned about black crime than whites. Where is the outrage? Where are the black leaders? How did this case seem to set people off when blacks are killed by other blacks every day. Seems to me we don't recognize the real enemy.
FYI
around 90% of black victims are victims of blacks
around 90% of white victims are victims of whites
Honestly, what can Obama do about any of this? Make Holder bring forward a case that he doesn't have evidence to prove? That worked well in Florida last week....
I hope Obama pushes hard to get rid of the
nra's / alec's gun marketing program called stand your ground