MLK said he had a dream that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The folks that love to scream racism at every turn see nothing but the color of skin. Obama has made it clear he is one of those.
BO did not have to have a position on the TM/GZ situation. As potus, it does not fall anywhere near his spectrum of responsibility. Everyday in this country there are blacks killing blacks, whites killing whites, blacks killing whites, etc. somewhere. What makes this case more important than any other?
The prez has a law degree and he knows better than to ignore evidence, hide evidence, and skew the truth if justice is to prevail. He has made ridiculous statements, sicked his watchdog(Holder) onto the situation, and has continued to fan the flames since the verdict. And the last thing he wants is truth and justice.
Truth- TM was a thug/punk. He was into drugs, gangsta life, mma, and violence. He had been caught with stolen items in his locker at school(though they were designated as "found" rather than stolen), been in trouble at school numerous times, and was nothing like the innocent looking 12yo the media keeps showing in the pictures.
Zimmerman OTOH, lead a life that made him look anything but a racist when his past is looked into. Much like the misleading pic of TM, the media refused to tell any of the real story of GZ and instead put up a mugshot pic of him, usually next to the pic of 12yo TM. Take the time to look at the crime scene pics. GZ got the crap beat out of him. His face was bloody, the back of his head was busted open, and he was a mess. Those pics haven't had much play in the national media, but they exist. GZ had every right to believe this kid was going to beat him to death.
Under pressure from the WH and the DOJ, lots of background stuff on both men was left out, including the internet rantings from TM that showed him far differently than the sweet little boy we keep hearing about, his history of trouble, and the fact that his innocent sounding skittles and tea were two of 3 ingredients he had described on the internet as the makings of a drug cocktail. By the time the media got done with it, he was just a little kid eating candy that got gunned down by the evil racist for no reason.
Obama knows better. He knows that partial truths are as good(or bad) as lies in pushing his agenda and this case is no different. The only reason this has been blown so far out of proportion is b/c those that DO only see color want it to be. The prez represents the country, not just the parts of it he aligns with. What he has done in this case has been shameful.
Originally posted by DaxC:
If you knew me, you wouldn't believe that I would be defending this President. I think that he is an economic trainwreck that we will deal with for 20 year.
But he is the first black President and we have a major race issue that has blown up. He didn't create the issue, didn't ask for it. He had to have a position and I actually think that his statement will sooth some raw emotions. I know that I am in the minority on this one here but I applaud him for standing up.
Originally posted by hogminer:
Originally posted by DaxC:
I was pretty pissed when I saw the excepts on TV but then watched the speech. What he said, and I paraphrase, was that the African-American community views these things through a different prism due to latent racism in our country. He went so far as to say that he has experienced people locking their car doors when he was in Chicago and walking down the street toward their car.
I didn't vote for President O and don't really think much of him. But, if you watch what he really said - and not the talking heads analyzing what he said, it is hard to disagree with him.
I think we have made a lot of progress in our country but there is still a lot of pain in the black community. That is just the truth unfortunately.
After watching it, I think he did the right thing and sent a good message to the country.
The problem is that 80% of the country will hear it from the media's spin. He should have never addressed it.