Obama: "If I Had a Son, He'd Look Just Like Trayvon"

[PrivateTimm]

Honolulu isn't urban? Likewise, does racism not exist at independent schools?

There is no urban ghetto in Honolulu and there no racism at Punahou. Obama was was in the most multicultural, least racist state in the country. Whites were less than 25% of the population, Asians were close to 50% and almost 20% were multiracial.

[chrisrobin]

Newsflash.

Obama is just as white as he is black.

He never lived the life of a young black male in the urban environment. He was raised in Indonesia and then Hawaii, where he went to the most elite prep school in Hawaii. He has NO "life experience" that was any different from his white or Asian classmates at Punahou.

The point raised was a valid one. Why of all the violence out there does he choose to comment on this one instance and not all the others?

The president's background has nothing to do with this case.

According to the concept of "equal protection under the law" there is a reasonable degree of expectation that the following should occur:

There should be an arrest - presupposing probable cause.
There should be an indictment.
The accused should get a DNA test.
The accused should get a gunpowder test.

Regarding the victim:
The local medical examiner should do an autopsy.
The victim should get a DNA test.
Time of death should be established.
Forensics should do a trajectory test for the bullet(s).
Physical evidence should be collected and analyzed.

What makes the Trayvon Martin case unique is that none of the aforementioned were done. I do not believe that other cases mentioned above were the least bit similar to this one. If the president wishes to comment on the event, that is his prerogative. If Pres. Obama were white with blue eyes, red hair and freckles, Treyvon Martin wouldn't be any less dead. Mr. Zimmerman wouldn't be any less of a suspect. In short, we're not talking about Pres. Obama's background or "life experience." We are talking about justice!

[chrisrobin]

Let me say this......Mark is the Owner of JUB...He spoke out about the most recent Suicidal Deaths among Open & Closeted Gay teens...Mark might not be able to reach kids because of this site but he can certainly spread information & awareness to all of us and Hope we share that information with Children & Adults we know personally...Mark isnt the President of the United States but he does have a Global platform to make a stand and/or statement...

That's all President Obama was doing in the current tragedy with Trayvon Martin.....

Jack...Had Dubya said the EXACT same thing when he was in office about a young White kid I PROMISE you Black Americans wouldnt have Marched on his Ass or criticized him for doing it......

When Dubya read to School kids, when Laura encouraged School Kids to get an Education we didnt get MAD at them and call them names...Who would do something as ABSURD as that?

Angry Republicans talk about President Obama & Mrs. Obama very badly...Some Americans don't want to HEAR anything that comes out of their mouths because they're Black...

And YES I said Not-so-Nice things about Dubya when he was in office but it had NOTHING to do with his race & I didnt go after him when he did & said positive things I agreed with...

I was so glad to read this post. If I had a younger brother or a son, I would hope that he would BE like Trayvon Martin.

[chrisrobin]

There is no urban ghetto in Honolulu

Wrong. Every city has poor people.

and there no racism at Punahou.

Wrong again. There is plenty. How 'bout resentment for the white guys who stole their islands.

Obama was in the most multicultural, least racist state in the country.

Please back up your claim with facts. As in, "where did you get your information?" ... and that's President Obama, if you please.

*fail*

[JB3]

Wrong. Every city has poor people.

You're confusing poor people with the ghetto. While the ghetto is made up of the underprivileged, the existence of poor people does not a ghetto make.

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

Oh my God, are we really splitting hairs right now to deny the president his right to legitimately relate to black Americans???

You are all determining and defining what the "black experience" is, based on your own criteria?

Un-fucking-believable! This takes the cake. You are all now declaring even the color of his skin to be illegitimate!

[archive]

Oh my God, are we really splitting hairs right now to deny the president his right to legitimately relate to black Americans???

You are all determining and defining what the "black experience" is, based on your own criteria?

Un-fucking-believable! This takes the cake. You are all now declaring even the color of his skin to be illegitimate!

Exactly. The threads about this have been hilarious. Considering that if he wasn't know and they saw him on the street, he'd be that black guy over there.

[Apollo]

Oh my God, are we really splitting hairs right now to deny the president his right to legitimately relate to black Americans???

You are all determining and defining what the "black experience" is, based on your own criteria?

Un-fucking-believable! This takes the cake. You are all now declaring even the color of his skin to be illegitimate!

This thread is pretty embarrassing.

The fact of the matter is, even though the President is mixed race, he looks black. That is all that matters to racist people. They don't care how much white to black ratio you have in your family, it doesn't matter if he only lives with his white half of the family. Racists don't get to know their victims, just like homophobes don't get to know their victims. All they care about is carrying out their violent agenda.

President Obama has all the right in the world to comment on this topic. As a part black man, who looks black and was raised around black people, he can easily relate to this kid. And seeing how his wife is full black, and he is part black, there is a high chance, that yes, his son would look like young Trayvon Martin.

I am glad he commented. No one can deny that there is an obvious unbalance in the media when reporting this type of stuff. The only reason this picked up any traction was because of the outrage it received on the internet. If it weren't for this medium, the media would have outright ignored it. But if this had happened to a little white boy, you bet your silver dollar it would be all over all the networks the next fucking day.

I applaud the Presidents actions on this issue. He didn't intervene, he didn't dip his toes in. He commented on an issue that could have hit him close to home if he werent in the high office. He commented and left it at that.

[Kulindahr]

The president's background has nothing to do with this case.

According to the concept of "equal protection under the law" there is a reasonable degree of expectation that the following should occur:

There should be an arrest - presupposing probable cause.
There should be an indictment.
The accused should get a DNA test.
The accused should get a gunpowder test.

Regarding the victim:
The local medical examiner should do an autopsy.
The victim should get a DNA test.
Time of death should be established.
Forensics should do a trajectory test for the bullet(s).
Physical evidence should be collected and analyzed.

What makes the Trayvon Martin case unique is that none of the aforementioned were done. I do not believe that other cases mentioned above were the least bit similar to this one. If the president wishes to comment on the event, that is his prerogative. If Pres. Obama were white with blue eyes, red hair and freckles, Treyvon Martin wouldn't be any less dead. Mr. Zimmerman wouldn't be any less of a suspect. In short, we're not talking about Pres. Obama's background or "life experience." We are talking about justice!

[Kulindahr]

Un-fucking-believable! This takes the cake. You are all now declaring even the color of his skin to be illegitimate!

Well, of course!





It should be red, white, and blue.

[chrisrobin]

You're confusing poor people with the ghetto. While the ghetto is made up of the underprivileged, the existence of poor people does not a ghetto make.

Parse much?
How about "economically challenged?"

[Kulindahr]

Parse much?
How about "economically challenged?"

He's got a point. In Portland, there's an area commonly called "felony flats". Many people live there because it's cheaper, and they're on Social Security or some other fixed income. A lot of others are on disability of some sorts. I doubt anyone there has a household income averaging above $6k per person.

You drive in, and the difference is obvious. But there are other areas where half the residents are like those in "felony flats", and the neighborhoods are completely different. Properties are taken care of a heck of a lot better, out of a sort of peer pressure.

Felony flats is borderline ghetto. The other areas, even though with a heavy population of poor people, are nowhere near it.

Geographical concentration makes a huge difference.

[chrisrobin]

I doubt anyone there has a household income averaging above $6k per person.

Presidential candidate Wretch-a-Sketch wants to increase Federal income tax on those making $15K or less.

[JB3]

Parse much?
How about "economically challenged?"

Ha. Well let me put it this way: in my town, which is wealthy, there are a large number of people living paycheck to a paycheck that would qualify as poor. But there aren't any ghettos here.

[Kulindahr]

Presidential candidate Wretch-a-Sketch wants to increase Federal income tax on those making $15K or less.

I'd agree to that if he would pair it with raising the individual exemption to the federal poverty level, and raised the credit per child to $8k, plus move the first $3500 in medical costs outside the itemized deduction schedule.

[PrivateTimm]

Wrong. Every city has poor people.

Wrong again. There is plenty. How 'bout resentment for the white guys who stole their islands.

Please back up your claim with facts. As in, "where did you get your information?" ... and that's President Obama, if you please.

*fail*

What do you presume to know about Punahou? Where is the urban ghetto in Honolulu? Being poor doesn't mean being ghettoized. Get over your prejudice.

Where did I get my facts? The facts are pretty apparent. You can look them up anyplace. HI is the only state where whites have never been a majority. It is the most multicultural state in the US. They have so few hate crimes, only 1 in the 2007-08 reporting period that liberals had a fit. They had to redefine hate crimes by an even stricter standard so they could report more. And even then, it was only 17 in 2011. A very low number for a population as big as Hawaii's.

Lastly, you want "respect" for Obama after you praised a post that called President Bush, "dubya", but now you want to demand respect for another president? Get off the hypocrisy train.

[PrivateTimm]

Now the New Black Panther Party is putting out Wanted: Dead or Alive posters on Zimmerman.

Anyone wanna bet on whether or not the DOJ investigates this?

[Ninja108]

Trayvon's supporters need to tell this group to STFU and go away.
They've showed up after the death of James Byrd and during the travesty that was the Duke Lacrosse case and several other cases as well.
But make no mistake,they are just as racist and anti-Jewish as the KKK is and are on the SPLC's list of hate groups. This is NOT what's needed right now in getting justice for Trayvon.

[Kulindahr]

Now the New Black Panther Party is putting out Wanted: Dead or Alive posters on Zimmerman.

Anyone wanna bet on whether or not the DOJ investigates this?

The original Black Panthers were borderline treasonous. The retreda version is borderline looney.

I want to know what their beef is with Angela Corey.

Will the DOJ investigate? Doubtful, though the FBI might.

[Pangelboy]

I'm happy that President Obama commented on the Trayvon Martin shooting. I'm sure any past president would've also commented on the case, seeing as how it has exploded over the past couple of weeks, but as a black man this President has another level of connection to the facts surrounding the case. I'm glad he acknowledged that.

He has NO "life experience" that was any different from his white or Asian classmates at Punahou.

I'm sorry, but it upsets me a bit when people try to tell minorities about what their experience being a minority SHOULD be or IS. The fact that his skin color is black grants him a different "life experience."

[Obama] later described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage with his own sense of self. "I began to notice there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog...and that Santa was a white man," he said. "I went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking the way I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me."

But, whatevs. I'm sure you know more about how it was to grow up as Obama than Obama does.

Now the New Black Panther Party is putting out Wanted: Dead or Alive posters on Zimmerman.

Anyone wanna bet on whether or not the DOJ investigates this?

Was this group specifically created to scare white people? God! They are a serious embarrassment. I can only hope that if we ignore them they will disappear.

Racist media whores.

[Pangelboy]

I want to know what their beef is with Angela Corey.

I'm not sure, but a quick google revealed this:

http://jacksonvillefreepress.com/bla...ult-p836-1.htm

The source could be substantially biased, but it's what I found. Prosecuting a 12 year old as an adult seems pretty harsh.

This St. Augustine report also goes into more detail. Seems like the NBPP isn't the only one concerned about her handling the Trayvon Martin special investigation.

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2012-03-23

Personally, I don't think we can make any judgement calls until the investigation is actually complete.

[bankside]

Obama's comment was well-thought-out. He addressed it to a specific audience. There is a group of people who "see a news story about a black kid with a ridiculous name" and immediately assume "What was the kid up to that some innocent neighbourhood watch captain had to defend himself?"

The same group of people would have no problem with President Barack Obama because "he's not like the other kind."

Obama is the exception that proves the rule in the minds of many racially ignorant voters.

So he addressed this very specific audience. He was using the gravitas of his office and his personal credibility to remind those voters that this kid could have been the son of a President. He made the connection at the level of concrete physical similarity, which opened the door to make the connection at the level of abstract, idealised parental concern. He was reminding them not to assume things without reading all the facts, and that we owe it to the kid to figure out what happened. He was positioning bigots to become better citizens. He was helping a lot of people to understand this could have been a good kid, like his kids, like their kids.

It was brilliantly subtle way to shape the debate. Obama has remembered his skills and recovered from the disaster of his stupid remarks about the harvard police incident.

[PrivateTimm]

I'm happy that President Obama commented on the Trayvon Martin shooting. I'm sure any past president would've also commented on the case, seeing as how it has exploded over the past couple of weeks, but as a black man this President has another level of connection to the facts surrounding the case. I'm glad he acknowledged that.

I'm sorry, but it upsets me a bit when people try to tell minorities about what their experience being a minority SHOULD be or IS. The fact that his skin color is black grants him a different "life experience."

There are lots of murder cases that get national attention that presidents don't comment on. With all the news on bullying lately why didn't the president call Allen Coon and his family? Why didn't he comment on Christopher David Jones' murder? Call his family?

Barack Obama was a multiracial kid in a multiracial school in a multiracial city in a multiracial state. He never had the kind of exposure to experiences like young African Americans in urban, mainland America did. He was "Barry", not Barack.

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

Barack Obama was a multiracial kid in a multiracial school in a multiracial city in a multiracial state. He never had the kind of exposure to experiences like young African Americans in urban, mainland America did. He was "Barry", not Barack.

I like that you get to decide what is an authentic "black experience."

I have a question for you. What constitutes a "white experience" in your book? I ask because I wonder if my life experience (as a white male) will actually be authentic enough according to your criteria. I assume you DO have a single criteria for what is and what isn't a "white experience" as well, right?

[chrisrobin]

Lastly, you want "respect" for Obama after you praised a post that called President Bush, "dubya", but now you want to demand respect for another president? Get off the hypocrisy train.

I didn't know that someone's middle initial would be a perjorative... thanks for filing me in!

[Apollo]

I like that you get to decide what is an authentic "black experience."

I have a question for you. What constitutes a "white experience" in your book? I ask because I wonder if my life experience (as a white male) will actually be authentic enough according to your criteria. I assume you DO have a single criteria for what is and what isn't a "white experience" as well, right?

I would imagine a "white experience" as any experience a white person experiences as a member of that race.

Where a "black experience" is the same. As much as people like to gloss over it. This country used to have slavery, and not even a lifetime ago there was racial segregation and hatred in America. The experience of black people is a lot difference as the experience of white people or hispanic people. In culture, and in life.

As a black man, who has a good number of white friends, the differences are there, and we have discussed them. Or listen to a comedian or two, they love to point of the differences.

[Pangelboy]

There are lots of murder cases that get national attention that presidents don't comment on. With all the news on bullying lately why didn't the president call Allen Coon and his family? Why didn't he comment on Christopher David Jones' murder? Call his family?

Barack Obama was a multiracial kid in a multiracial school in a multiracial city in a multiracial state. He never had the kind of exposure to experiences like young African Americans in urban, mainland America did. He was "Barry", not Barack.

I never heard about Allen Coon or Christopher David Jones. Maybe the President hasn't either? I partly attribute the shear number of people upset about the handling of the Trayvon Martin case for why the President commented.

Barack Obama was a multiracial kid in a multiracial school in a multiracial city in a multiracial state.

Americans mainly judge race on the color of a person's skin, not their genetic history. I wish it was different and Barack Obama, Alicia Keys, Halley Berry, and all other biracial men, women, and children could claim their white heritage as easily as their black heritage, but America's racial history is an impediment to such a utopia.

Whether he grew up on the set of "Leave It To Beaver," is immaterial. I seriously doubt he never encountered racism as a child (even if it was just in American media), since when people look at him they assume he is wholly BLACK, as the President has said.

He never had the kind of exposure to experiences like young African Americans in urban, mainland America did. He was "Barry", not Barack.

Cites? Sources? Totally made up? As one of those young African Americans in an urban and mainland area of America, can you fill me in on what I've experienced? Kthx.

[Kulindahr]

I like that you get to decide what is an authentic "black experience."

I have a question for you. What constitutes a "white experience" in your book? I ask because I wonder if my life experience (as a white male) will actually be authentic enough according to your criteria. I assume you DO have a single criteria for what is and what isn't a "white experience" as well, right?

I have a white experience every winter, when my tan goes away.

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

As a black man, who has a good number of white friends, the differences are there, and we have discussed them. Or listen to a comedian or two, they love to point of the differences.

I appreciate you answering me Apollo, and I do know the experiences are different. My post was actually a somewhat sarcastic (well, not really somewhat) response to Private Timm asserting that our president could not claim a "black experience" because he wasn't raised in a "ghetto." I was asking if he also had a criteria for determining whether or not a white skinned person could claim a "white experience." I wasn't really expecting a general answer but, thank you!

[Joshua_me]

I like that you get to decide what is an authentic "black experience."

I have a question for you. What constitutes a "white experience" in your book? I ask because I wonder if my life experience (as a white male) will actually be authentic enough according to your criteria. I assume you DO have a single criteria for what is and what isn't a "white experience" as well, right?

^ And you have the F-ing nerve to accuse ME of "race-baiting" ?

Heal thyself, honey.

All I originally said was that I thought the President's statement might be a bit much and then asked for every one's thoughts on the matter.

It might be a big deal, it might not. Hence, my word, "Thoughts ? "

You've made yours MORE than crystal clear, which is what I asked for....

But, call me a "Race-baiter" again and I can assure you it will be our last communication.

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

But, call me a "Race-baiter" again and I can assure you it will be our last communication.

Yeah, you're right. I was incensed by the comments in the thread as a whole and the notion that he overstepped his bounds by acknowledging that he would have a black son and could empathize but you didn't deserve to be called a "race-baiter" for posting the original link.

I regret saying that and I do want to sincerely apologize to you.

I am very sorry for it.

[JayHawk]

This thread is pretty embarrassing.

The fact of the matter is, even though the President is mixed race, he looks black. That is all that matters to racist people. They don't care how much white to black ratio you have in your family, it doesn't matter if he only lives with his white half of the family. Racists don't get to know their victims, just like homophobes don't get to know their victims. All they care about is carrying out their violent agenda.

President Obama has all the right in the world to comment on this topic. As a part black man, who looks black and was raised around black people, he can easily relate to this kid. And seeing how his wife is full black, and he is part black, there is a high chance, that yes, his son would look like young Trayvon Martin.

I am glad he commented. No one can deny that there is an obvious unbalance in the media when reporting this type of stuff. The only reason this picked up any traction was because of the outrage it received on the internet. If it weren't for this medium, the media would have outright ignored it. But if this had happened to a little white boy, you bet your silver dollar it would be all over all the networks the next fucking day.

I applaud the Presidents actions on this issue. He didn't intervene, he didn't dip his toes in. He commented on an issue that could have hit him close to home if he werent in the high office. He commented and left it at that.

I agree with you on the first one Apollo. Definitely embarrassing. most trying their best to define the poster instead of the issue. Pretty childish.

On the second one I disagree. It wouldn't have hit most national news outlets for long because the story would have been "Black teenager arrested; facing murder charges"

The POTUS has every right to comment on whatever he desires. I sincerely wish he was much more involved domestically. Not just with the injustice in Treyvon Martin's case.

[Joshua_me]

I regret saying that and I do want to sincerely apologize to you.

I am very sorry for it.

Well, *goodness* !

I wasn't expecting such a kind response !

Apology sincerely accepted.

Now, let's move on.....

[archive]

Cites? Sources? Totally made up? As one of those young African Americans in an urban and mainland area of America, can you fill me in on what I've experienced? Kthx.

u know us blacks like ta hold our guns sideways, never see our father, po bottles on bitches, write Ebonics, jay-z is our good, and we only strive to sell drugs and live until we're 21....whats wrong with you boy?

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

Apology sincerely accepted.

Now, let's move on.....

Thank you and AGREED!