Leon D. Young
Last Friday, President Obama surprised reporters gathered in the White house briefing room, delivering remarks on the case involving the death of Trayvon Martin that many say are among his most important as chief executive.
In his unscheduled remarks, Mr. Obama delved into a number of salient issues relating to this hot-button case. The first point that the president made was again extending his deepest thoughts and prayers to the family of Trayvon Martin; and extolling the grace and dignity that this family has shown during this unthinkable tragedy.
The president next weighed in on a few of the legal issues in the case. He felt that the trial was conducted in a professional manner; and the prosecution and defense each made their arguments.
The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict.
And once the jury has spoken, that’s how our system works.
These remarks are memorable, in my view, because of the context of this case and how people (Black and white) have responded to it and how people are feeling. Mr. Obama openly acknowledged that he, as a black man living in this country, has had to endure the social stigma of his skin color: from being followed (by a store detective) when shopping in a department store to getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she has a chance to get off.
It is from those sets of experiences that shape the view of many African Americans when they interpret what happened that night in Florida. Moreover, the African American community is also very aware 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.
The president concedes that the African American community is not naïve about the fact the African American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system; that they’re 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.
Moreover, Mr. Obama contends that the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born 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. With so much of this being unacknowledged or misunderstood, this adds to the frustration and distrust among many black Americans.
Lastly, the fact that a lot of African American boys are painted with the 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 and considerable outrage.
More important, in these remarks, the president puts to rest the very notion that there is no context for these feelings in the black community; and this collective angst is not some figment of black people’s imagination.
The president also put forth some valid corrective measures that should be advanced to improve the plight of African Americans in the wake of Trayvon Martin.
These measures will be the focus of my article next week.