Being the right and the wrong race

joko104 said:

The president said that Trayvon Martin would look like his son if he had one and then called for full government power used to see justice is done in the matter of the death of the 17 year old who looks like his son would look.

George Zimmerman, a spanish speaking Latino, doesn't look like he could have been Obama's son.

In this, I believe the President of the United States told everyone in the country, everyone in his Justice Department, everyone on the Grand Jury (that is primarily African-American in that community), the judge, and all prospective jurors a very simple declaration:

Treyvon Martin is the right race. George is the wrong race.

Do you approve of what President Obama said?

(sorry but I can't edit the typos)

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I think what he said was just fine. And I don't even care for the man. Ha!

Why are you so busy lookin' in woodpiles? Jesse.

Aunt Spiker said:

This is what I meant the other day when I said "I know what hte president was trying to say: but he made a terrible choice of words in trying to say it" Without intending to - he turned this into a serious race issue because he didn't think enough ahead of time.

With a few different words he could have connected with every single parent out there - and every single adult who's ever been a teen living in a dangerous community.

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You mean like this, "Every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and everybody pulls together, federal state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened"?

If a Church in the US had been bombed and gotten this much attention and Obama made a personal connection through it by mentioning his own Christianity, people would not have a problem with it. What is it about race that makes people feel like mentioning it is alienating and "divisive"? If someone feels alienated from the President because of this comment, then that feeling is something coming from within themselves and Obama shouldn't pander too it.

Obama is black. His son would have been black. There are racial questions and concerns surrounding this case. Obama might have understood those 3 things and fashioned his comment to reference them. It's not a big deal.

ThePlayDrive said:

You mean like this, "Every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and everybody pulls together, federal state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened"?

If a Church in the US had been bombed and gotten this much attention and Obama made a personal connection through it by mentioning his own Christianity, people would not have a problem with it. What is it about race that makes people feel like mentioning it is alienating and "divisive"? If someone feels alienated from the President because of this comment, then that feeling is something coming from within themselves and Obama shouldn't pander too it.

Obama is black. His son would have been black. There are racial questions and concerns surrounding this case. Obama might have understood those 3 things. It's not a big deal.

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He didn't mention race. Never said a word about it. Racism, in this case, is in the ears of the whatevers.

MaggieD said:

He didn't mention race. Never said a word about it. Racism, in this case, is in the ears of the whatevers.

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He mentioned his sons "looks". It's incredibly easy to draw from that that Obama was connecting to Trayvon's race, but it's ambiguous enough to say that he wasn't. If he wasn't, then no big deal. If he was (and I think he was particularly given I'm sure he's aware how upset a lot of black Americans are), then it's still no big deal. That's my point. Like I've said several times. If a Church or a Christian were attacked and Obama mentioned his Christianity, then it wouldn't be a big deal. However, the idea of Obama mentioning his race seems to throw a lot of people into a hypocritical tizzy.

If Obama was truly concerned about a 17 year old kid getting shot he would have said something like that could of been any of our sons even mine. He chose however to say if he had a son he would look like Trevor. What do you think he was talking about, did Trevor have big ears? The answer is obvious and the answer is RACE CARD!

SmokeAndMirrors said:

I wonder if this would be an issue if Obama were white and said a gunned-down white kid looked like he could have been his son.

Zimmerman is not "the wrong race." There is significant evidence that the investigation was bungled and that Zimmerman had motives other than self-defense for shooting Martin. The fact that he is not getting Obama's sympathy when the motives of him killing a 17-year-old are so heavily in question is not surprising. He shouldn't be.

This is a comment that would get no attention whatsoever if Obama were white. Obama's meaning of it is probably no more insidious than it would be if he had said it as a white man.

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The media would have gone nuts if Obama and Martin were both white and he had called for the Justice Department to involve because Martin looked like his son as a black Zimmerman didn't.

The President's statement was pure racism.

We also know that although Zimmerman and his family too both had to move out of their houses due to death threats and the President and his Justice Department are perfectly agreeable to death threats against them.

To use your example, if both Martin and Zimmerman were African-American, do you think the President or anyone would give a damn?

This is the ultimate playing the race card and racism by the President and the media.

What matters most to me in individual freedom and equality in relation to the government. Accordingly, I just switched from going to vote for Obama because of rights Republicans want to take away - but now would vote for any of the Republicans, even Ron Paul, over Obama.

A racist president deliberately putting someone in an unfair trial situation risking him being imprisoned or even executed because we have a racist president playing race politics is 100% outrageous - and no greater denial of equality and justice possible. But, then, come to think of it, he's the president that took to himself the power to order any American summarily assasinated if determined an enemy of the state. He declared Zimmerman an enemy of his race.

joko104 said:

The media would have gone nuts if Obama and Martin were both white and he had called for the Justice Department to involve because Martin looked like his son as a black Zimmerman didn't.

The President's statement was pure racism.

We also know that although Zimmerman and his family too both had to move out of their houses due to death threats and the President and his Justice Department are perfectly agreeable to death threats against them.

To use your example, if both Martin and Zimmerman were African-American, do you think the President or anyone would give a damn?

This the ultimate playing the race card and racism by the President and the media.

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If GW had said it about a white kid, would anyone have said, "See? He's playing the race card."? There is racism flying around this issue, but it's not coming from Obama. Plenty of it on DP atm.

Andalublue said:

If GW had said it about a white kid, would anyone have said, "See? He's playing the race card."? There is racism flying around this issue, but it's not coming from Obama. Plenty of it on DP atm.

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Good point and the answer is "no".

ThePlayDrive said:

If a church was bombed and Obama said in an empathetic manner, "That could have been my church," would you have a problem with that?

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No. If there had been been 16,000+ church bombing per year and he picked one specific bombing saying he was doing so because the people in THAT church looks like him, yes.

Andalublue said:

If GW had said it about a white kid, would anyone have said, "See? He's playing the race card."? There is racism flying around this issue, but it's not coming from Obama. Plenty of it on DP atm.

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IF GW went before the whole nation and said he was ordering a Justice Department investigation into a specific homicide because the person killed is white like he is, the media would have gone absolutely ballistic.

joko104 said:

IF GW went before the whole nation and said he was ordering a Justice Department investigation into a specific homicide because the person killed is white like he is, the media would have gone absolutely ballistic.

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Of course they would and if Obama does the same thing, they'll go ballistic for that as well.

joko104 said:

No. If there had been been 16,000+ church bombing per year and he picked one specific bombing saying he was doing so because the people in THAT church looks like him, yes.

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There haven't been 16,000+ cases like either, so whatever point you're trying to make isn't happening.

sawyerloggingon said:

So you are shocked huh. I suppose you don't think obama and dems used the Gifford shooting for politics either, damn man.

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I don't know anything about "Gifford." I do know in this case the comment is full of **** and based on just as much hyperbolic bull****.

joko104 said:

IF GW went before the whole nation and said he was ordering a Justice Department investigation into a specific homicide because the person killed is white like he is, the media would have gone absolutely ballistic.

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This is not what Obama said. Not even close.

I voted other. The president didn't inject race into the issue, he conveyed a personal connection with the victim in this horrible tragedy, and I commend him for the empathy he showed.

You are first I've heard that tried to make the President's remarks racially motivated. I question more the motivations of those that try to paint his remarks as racially oriented.

I don't even know how to respond to this ridiculousness, Joko.

Also, it is possible Zimmerman has been offered protection. If he has, it obviously would be pretty hush-hush because these sorts of things usually are by necessity. But the Florida department of law said they are aware of his whereabouts, even though much of his family isn't, which means it is certainly a possibility and even likely he has been offered protection.

Obama's statement was inclusive and anti-aggression, as it usually is. There is nothing in his statement implying that Martin is special because he is black, that Zimmerman is especially bad because he is not, or that he is encouraging citizen violence and threats. You have made all of that up in your head.

fyrenza said:

Oh, wow.

I said No.

The prez shouldn't be commenting on ANY SORT of local criminal matters.

Doesn't he have a country to run?

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The President of the United States ought to, and has throughout American history commented on local criminal matters. Perhaps you need to be reacquainted with some of your history.

http://www.history.com/audio/johnson-on-kkk-murder-of-civil-rights-worker#johnson-on-kkk-murder-of-civil-rights-worker