http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LxYB7PM5EA
YouTube: MichaelSavage4Prez
US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has said the nation needs to do some “soul-searching”, look for ways to bolster African-American boys and examine state and local laws to see if they encourage confrontations like the one in Florida.
“Where do we take this?” Obama wondered aloud in an impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room. “How do we learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction?”
Obama’s appearance marked his first extended comments on the Trayvon Martin case since George Zimmerman was acquitted last weekend of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in Martin’s death last year.
Jurors found that Zimmerman was acting in self-defence when he shot the unarmed black teenager. Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.
Obama, who early on had said that if he had a son, the boy would have looked like Martin, said: “Martin could’ve been me 35 years ago.”
The president also said it’s time “for all of us to some soul searching,” but he also said it’s generally not productive when politicians try to orchestrate a conversation.
He said race relations in the United States actually are getting better, looking at his own daughters and their interactions with friends, the president said, “They’re better than we are. They’re better than we were.”
The president declined to wade into the detail of legal questions about the Florida case, saying, “Once the jury’s spoken, that’s how our system works.” But he said state and local laws, such as Florida’s “stand your ground” statute, need a close look.
Obama said it would be useful “to examine some state and local laws to see if they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of confrontation” that led to Martin’s death.
He questioned whether a law that sends the message that someone who is armed “has the right to use those firearms even if there is a way for them to exit from a situation” really promotes the peace and security that people want.
And he raised the question of whether Martin himself, if he had been armed, “could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk” and shot neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman if he felt threatened when being followed.
Protests and demonstrations, he said, are understandable, adding that “some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through — as long as it remains nonviolent.”
“It’s important to recognise that the African-American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away,” he said.
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