Do You Agree With Zimmerman Acquittal?

President Barack Obama surprised the nation Friday by making personal remarks on the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

“When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son,” Obama said at the beginning of his roughly 18-minute speech during an unanticipated appearance at a press conference scheduled for White House press secretary Jay Carney. 

“Another way of saying that, is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago.”

Obama explained some instances of historical racial discrimination and “personal experiences” that he thinks inform the mentality of the black community on this issue. He opened up about some examples he had experienced himself in the past, including “walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars.”

His comments were “some of his most personal and extensive remarks on race since he became president,” stated the Los Angeles Times.

Last weekend, Zimmerman was acquitted of charges of manslaughter and second-degree murder in the highly publicized case State of Florida v. Zimmerman.

The case arose following an incident on Feb. 26, 2012, in which Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch guard, reportedly followed Martin, 17, and shot and killed him after they got in a small brawl.

Since the not guilty verdict, riots in solidarity with Martin have broken out across the country, with Martin family supporters bearing signs reading phrases like “We Are All Trayvon” and claiming racial discrimination as the reason for the shooting.

“The African-American community is 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,” Obama said. “And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.”

He went on to acknowledge that black men have the highest proportional rates of being victims or perpetrators of violence, but that critics cannot rely on this statistic without examining potential root racial causes behind it.

The second half of his speech also focused on what the country can do moving forward, to combat racial problems, including re-evaluating some state laws – citing Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law as an example.

“For those who resist that idea ... I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?” Obama said in the speech. “And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?”

Obama ended on a note of optimism, asking the country to do some soul-searching to become “not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.”

You can find the full transcript and video of Obama’s speech here.

Tell us, in the comments section below:

• What do you think of the acquittal of George Zimmerman?

• Were Obama’s remarks on Friday on point, or overstepping?