Via my colleague Jed Lewison at Daily Kos — President Obama is speaking live now. We will update.10:43 AM PT:
“Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” President Barack Obama
Obama: “If a white male teen would have been involved in this scenario … both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.”
— @mpoindc
Obama: “There are very few African-American men who haven’t been followed in a dept store. This has happened to me.”
10:46 AM PT: Obama says DOJ and mayors should work together on training related to racial profiling.
10:47 AM PT: It’s pretty clear President Obama read this Ta-Nehisi Coates guest column in the New York Times.
10:46 AM PT: Predictable anger from the right:
If you ever had any doubts, Obama is the first Racist in Chief
10:47 AM PT: Obama: “If Trayvon Martin was of age and was armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we think he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened. And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems we need to rethink [Stand Your Ground] laws.”
President Obama has broken his silence to give some constructive advice on “where do we go from here?” #Justice4Trayvon
10:51 AM PT: President Obama also says it’s crucial to “do a better job helping young African-American men feel that they’re a full part of the society and that they’ve got pathways and avenues to succeed.”
Obama is echoing the questions of many, many people. The sense that if Martin stood his ground, then he would be in prison right now.
— @jbouie
10:54 AM PT: Obama ends on a positive note, saying that while racism is not over, and while we don’t live in a post-racial society, things are getting better, and with every successive generation, things get better. “Kids these days have more sense than we did,” he says. “We’re becoming a more perfect union. Not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.” And the president exits the briefing room.
BREAKING: Chief Justice John Roberts strikes down all of President Obama’s comments on race.
— @LOLGOP
what obama said: “We’re becoming a more perfect union.”
what conservatives will hear: “Kill the white people”
— @owillis
I thought today’s speech was awesome. This is the Obama I voted for.