President Obama Speaks Out on Race in America; GOP Senators Slams Obama Remarks
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The president opening up about Trayvon Martin's death in extremely personal terms, explaining why so many African-Americans are frustrated by George Zimmerman's acquittal. This hour, you're going to hear the president's historic remarks at length on his own experience with racial bias, the harsh realities for young black men in America and his ideas for improving the climate in this country. I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. For more than 17 minutes, President Obama spoke more extensively, more personally about race in America than he has since taking office. The breaking news this hour, his surprise appearance in the White House Briefing Room to talk about Trayvon Martin's death and George Zimmerman's acquittal. He had been silent for nearly a week, except for a written statement he released on Sunday and under a lot of pressure to speak out about the verdict, the backlash and what it all says about the state of race relations in this country. We're going to discuss every angle of this historic moment this hour, but, first, listen to the president.</s>OBAMA: The reason I actually wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week, the issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave an -- a preliminary statement right after the ruling on Sunday, but watching the debate over the course of the last week I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little bit. First of all, you know, I -- I want to make sure that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle's, to the family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity with which they've dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they're going through, and it's -- it's remarkable how they've handled it. The second thing I want to say is to reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there are going to be a lot of arguments about the legal -- legal issues in the case. I will let all the legal analysts and talking heads address those issues. The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a -- in a case such as this, reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury's spoken, that's how our system works. But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling. You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there's a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it's important to recognize that the African- American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that -- that doesn't go away. There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. And 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. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. 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 had a chance to get off. That happens often. And, you know, I don't want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it's inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. The African-American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws, everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case. Now, this isn't to say that the African-American community is naive about the fact that African-American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, that they are disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. It's not to make excuses for that fact, although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. We understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. And so the fact that sometimes that's unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of African-American boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuse is given, well, there are these statistics out there that show that African-American boys are more violent -- using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain. I think the African-American community is also not naive in understanding that statistically somebody like Trayvon Martin was probably statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else. So -- so folks understand the challenges that exist for African- American boys, but they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there's no context for it or -- and that context is being denied. And -- and that all contributes, I think, to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.</s>BLITZER: We're going to have more of the president's very personal remarks. We're going to play those for you later this hour. Trayvon Martin's parents issued a strong statement saying they're deeply moved by the president's remarks and they applaud his call to open a dialogue about race. Among other things, they say this: "President Obama sees himself in Trayvon and identifies with him. This is a beautiful tribute to our boy. Trayvon's life was cut short, but we hope that his legacy will make our communities a better place for generations to come." George Zimmerman's defense team also put out a statement acknowledging the racial context of the trial and the importance of having a national discussion about race, and then they added this: "Those who take a closer look at the kind of person George Zimmerman is, something we understand the Department of Justice is currently doing, we are confident they will find a young man with a diverse ethnic and racial background who is not a racist, a man who is, in fact, sensitive to the complex racial history of our country." By the way, tonight a CNN special, "Race and Justice in America" after the Zimmerman verdict. Please join Anderson Cooper later tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 Pacific, only here on CNN. Once again, stand by for more of the president's very personal remarks. He talks about what would have happened if it had been Trayvon Martin who had a gun and stood his ground. And we will also get reaction from the president's former aide, the so-called body man. Reggie Love will join us here in THE SITUATION ROOM. And I will also speak with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the National Urban League president, Marc Morial, about what the president said and what more they want him to do.