So, yeah, that Obama dude talked a LONG time about the trial.

Since talking politics never goes well, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I just watched Obamas statement on the Trayvon Martin case, and I don't really know what to make of it. Did he do the right thing in commenting like this? Did you think his comments were appropriate? Both in terms of trying to "explain why all the black folk are angry" and in terms of his policy-suggestions at the end?

So, watch it if you haven't already, it'd be interesting to hear what you yanks say (and green_shoes too I guess).

He says "could've been me 35 years ago" which means nothing.
He says "African American" multiple times which is so stupid.
He recognizes how his entire administration targets blacks and sets them up for failure yet doesn't mention how he will make any effort to change that.
He says " more likely to be shot by a peer" when he should just straight up say "MUCH more likely to be shot by another BLACK boy in an opposing gang"
He's right about protesting and being nonviolent.
>examine state and local. If anyone honestly believes that the fed is not the biggest part of racism they're fooling themselves. War on drugs, shit public schools in shit neighborhoods with no jobs. That's the fed's doing. Yeah certain states perform better/less bad in school depending on how you look at it, but this is the key factor in getting a teenager ready for the real world.
Not sure what he's going on about with "stand your ground". Maybe if you have a problem with laws Mr. Obama you should change society so you don't need all these pointless laws. If my life is threatened I don't really give a shit whether there is or isn't a law in place.
He DOESN'T talk about the media bias because the government is at least partly responsible for it. As a man who identifies as black he did handle this pretty well. Racism does still exist and currently in places like California it's not really white people who tend to be racist, but there's a percentage of blacks that really do have that "your people are oppressing me" mentality and treat you like your dad was a slave owner or some shit. It's really quite pathetic, but you know that has to be coming from THEIR parents. The government is to blame for nearly everything when it comes to racism. We'd have more educated blacks, we'd have more skilled blacks, we'd have more employed blacks if the fed/state govt. vanished tomorrow. Get rid of the fucking war on drugs. Privatize the god damn schools so we don't churn out the same mindless drones with the same set of skills. Get rid of the dependency. Get rid of all forms of welfare. Get rid of the income tax because let's face it, it is a form of modern day slavery by taking 40% of your money (also can be seen as working 5 months completely unpaid). This is no conspiracy theory, this is what the govt. want. People function better when they don't feel like slaves. When they feel like there's something to fight/live for. When they feel free enough they produce better results in the work place. Taxes are theft. Obama's a bigger thief than Trayvon was. Obama has injured more people than trayvon did. The funniest thing is it's not cnn or msnbc that is being less biased, it's actually fox in this case. Promoting bitcoin use, promoting complete drug legalization, saying to AT LEAST go for a flat tax system which would get rid of the IRS (whom we HAVE known to be targeting political opponents for about 30 + years now).

I thought it was a nice speech, he made some good points. It just sounded like he had something to get off his chest about a hot issue that just happened. I can't really see anything to draw any negatives on (like the lunatic above)

After_The_Barrel_Roll wrote:

He says "could've been me 35 years ago" which means nothing.
He says "African American" multiple times which is so stupid.
He recognizes how his entire administration targets blacks and sets them up for failure yet doesn't mention how he will make any effort to change that.  
He says " more likely to be shot by a peer" when he should just straight up say "MUCH more likely to be shot by another BLACK boy in an opposing gang"
He's right about protesting and being nonviolent.
>examine state and local. If anyone honestly believes that the fed is not the biggest part of racism they're fooling themselves.  War on drugs, shit public schools in shit neighborhoods with no jobs. That's the fed's doing.  Yeah certain states perform better/less bad in school depending on how you look at it, but this is the key factor in getting a teenager ready for the real world.
Not sure what he's going on about with "stand your ground".  Maybe if you have a problem with laws Mr. Obama you should change society so you don't need all these pointless laws. If my life is threatened I don't really give a shit whether there is or isn't a law in place.
He DOESN'T talk about the media bias because the government is at least partly responsible for it.  As a man who identifies as black he did handle this pretty well.  Racism does still exist and currently in places like California it's not really white people who tend to be racist, but there's a percentage of blacks that really do have that "your people are oppressing me" mentality and treat you like your dad was a slave owner or some shit. It's really quite pathetic, but you know that has to be coming from THEIR parents.  The government is to blame for nearly everything when it comes to racism. We'd have more educated blacks, we'd have more skilled blacks, we'd have more employed blacks if the fed/state govt. vanished tomorrow.  Get rid of the fucking war on drugs. Privatize the god damn schools so we don't churn out the same mindless drones with the same set of skills.  Get rid of the dependency. Get rid of all forms of welfare.  Get rid of the income tax because let's face it, it is a form of modern day slavery by taking 40% of your money (also can be seen as working 5 months completely unpaid).  This is no conspiracy theory, this is what the govt. want. People function better when they don't feel like slaves. When they feel like there's something to fight/live for. When they feel free enough they produce better results in the work place.  Taxes are theft. Obama's a bigger thief than Trayvon was.  Obama has injured more people than trayvon did.  The funniest thing is it's not cnn or msnbc that is being less biased, it's actually fox in this case.  Promoting bitcoin use, promoting complete drug legalization, saying to AT LEAST go for a flat tax system which would get rid of the IRS (whom we HAVE known to be targeting political opponents for about 30 + years now).  

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So yeah... that's another perspective than mine. I was kinda more interested in his attempt to you know, explain the "outrage" the black community seemingly has right now. To those who people would view the protestors as being unjustly agitated, trying to explain where that anger was coming from. That kind of thing is something I think s pretty rare. Seemed like an honest thing to do, but at the same time kinda pointless (is anyone likely to hear Obama and go "oh, thaat's why they're mad?).

I kinda read it the way you did, Bluge. But I figured that might just be because of my Swedish temperament. Guess I was half proven right, though.

I don't know if you've seen this video but check it out. It's a scenario where someone is stealing a bike. One is a white guy, one is a black guy, one is a woman, most people act most negative towards the black guy.

Politics all over the planet are a big joke. No one in power is trustworthy. Obama is not authentic in the slightest. I'd say you're more crazy to actually believe these people care about you and your community.  Blacks get mad over anything. If OJ was convicted the blacks would riot and kill/injure 50+ people just like with Rodney King. It's not even racism, just look at the statistics. 94% of blacks killed are killed by other blacks.  A hispanic/white man who dated a black woman and taught black kids is now just a white guy because of his whitey name with an edited 911 call on nbc that makes him seem racist.  Trayvon is some innocent little child just look at this 4 year old pic of him!! People go nuts over this shit, but not over police brutality? Not over the 50% of inmates guilty of non-violent/victimless crimes? Not over obama "stalking" and blowing up people as young as 1 years old?  If you're not upset you're not paying attention. It's really that simple. If you're upset over GZ and TM you're REALLY not paying attention though. Obama could have been so much worse in this speech, but still how is it relevant to say "If I had a son he might have looked like Trayvon"? It isn't. At all.

edit: Also I finally got around to the racial profiling video. I don't think anyone should dispute that it exists, but the Trayvon Martin case is not an example of racial profiling. People can complain all they want about the verdict, but once they bring race into it it becomes obvious they're just race baiters

You don't think it's relevant to talk about attitudes towards young black men in a situation where one was shot and killed and people are angry because of it?

I think the attitude stems from the times we used to live in. That's something Obama touched on in the speach and he said we are growing out of it because we aren't teaching our kids to act that way. We know way back in the 60s and 70s black people were treated poorly, I think in the 90s when I was growing up probably the media was to blame (but of course it happened in real life too) black people were depicted as thugs and gangsters and tough killers but like I said it also happened in real life and there were real life gangsters out there.

But in recent times I think the focus has shifted away from that mindset. But not everyone has shifted their tolerance so easily, and this goes for a lot of issues not just race.

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We are talking in generalities here aren't we? We aren't just talking about this Treyvon Martin case right? 

I don't know, Bluge. It was a problem in the south. Sure, outside of MS most black people I meet really are just normal people. Down there, though, a lot of them do think they have to live that 'black' persona. And it's a shame. I don't understand why people think they have to act a certain way because of a certain group they happen to belong to. And that goes for everything, not just skin color.

I haven't read everything in this thread yet or even watched the Obama video, but I've kept up quite a bit with this case. I'll probably add more later relating to that. However, Trayvon being black is definitely an issue that sticks out for a lot of people, but not even looking at it considering race and giving Zimmerman as much credit as you can, the ruling still gives me some concern.

Giving Zimmerman all of the credit, he sees someone in his neighborhood that he thinks looks questionable. He goes to confront him after being told not to by the 911 operator, but just to be safe he brings a loaded gun. Bringing a gun is questionable action when approaching someone in a fairly well off suburb, but we'll give it to him. Furthermore, giving Zimmerman all of the credit in the world, while he is following this questionable guy and watching him, the guy turns around and questions Zimmerman. The questionable guy does not pull any weapon, but begins to approach Zimmerman. A fight breaks out. Based on medical reports, any level of attacks on Zimmerman were fairly minimal. But Zimmerman shoots him to kill him, not to impair him to prevent further attacks.

So, this means it is now legal to have a gun, and follow someone, which makes you look more questionable than them, and if a fight breaks out because they feel threatened by you, you have the legal right to shoot and kill that person.

Just looking at it that way, it seems like a serious issue. Adding race into it doesn't help. Would Zimmerman have followed him if he was white? Doubt it.

Loxx O))) wrote:

I don't know, Bluge.  It was a problem in the south.  Sure, outside of MS most black people I meet really are just normal people.  Down there, though, a lot of them do think they have to live that 'black' persona.  And it's a shame.  I don't understand why people think they have to act a certain way because of a certain group they happen to belong to.  And that goes for everything, not just skin color.

I agree. It works both ways. Black people are shown that way, and then some of them act the way they are shown. Like they have to live up to their stereotype. And of course some people are just dumb.