I agree with much the president says.<\/strong> Racism is \u2014 and always has been \u2014 \u201ca God-damned thing\u201d<\/a>. As a nation we should be under no illusions that just because we\u2019re no longer in a Jim Crow era, that we are living on the Starship Enterprise where racism is a thing of the past. Profiling is real. African Americans (and for that matter, Hispanics) have a genuine right to resent it. <\/p>\n The death of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy<\/strong> of the first order. A wanna-be cop in a state with some laws that should probably be reviewed made spectacular errors in judgment (and yeah, Martin made one too, is throwing first punch) and as a result, one family is grief-stricken with loss and another will never be the same. <\/p>\n But we can\u2019t actually know whether George Zimmerman was racially profiling or was just suspicious because he saw someone in a hoodie, looking at houses on a rainy night (which, by the way, is no freaking crime and Zimmerman should have stayed in his damn car). <\/p>\n From what I\u2019ve read Zimmerman is a walking American melting pot:<\/strong> part Caucasian, part African-American, part Hispanic; I suppose, depending on how he identifies, he could still be a racist who hates some part of himself, but \u2014 unless his lawyer is a liar \u2014 it seems his kid-mentoring and other volunteer activities<\/a> would belie that charge. <\/p>\n In fact, if these stories are true, Zimmerman appears to have precisely the sort of instincts toward volunteering and community service that we should try to encourage in each other. Except for the cop-wannabe part.<\/p>\n A very irresponsible press seemed to want<\/strong> racism to be the motive for this awful shooting, even editing a 911 audio tape<\/a> to give that impression. Why? Why take a terrible tragedy and try to ramp it up, and make it more sensational, more emotional than it already was? <\/p>\n If you want to do a story on racism, there are plenty of them to go around<\/a>. Why distort, exaggerate and hype this one, when others would meet the case?<\/p>\n Anyway, today the president made his remarks<\/strong> and I thought they were mostly good. I especially like the part where he says a national discussion of race should not be about politicians grandstanding but real people talking. Yeah, we need that. <\/p>\n Nevertheless, when I first read the headlines and the pull quote from his remarks (\u201cTrayvon Martin could have been me\u201d) I wondered what he was doing?<\/em> President Obama is often deliberately divisive; culture wars and straw men have been his friends these five years. \u201cDivide and conquer\u201d is a political method, after all \u2014 if you can keep people screaming at each other and hating each other with trumped-up \u201cwars on women\u201d and talk of \u201cfat cats with private jets\u201d \u2014 they\u2019re not paying attention to the fact that the government is tracking their every move<\/a>. Was this yet another an attempt to keep the house divided?<\/p>\n I also wondered (as does Allahpundit, here<\/a>) whether the president was trying to serve a sop to the press and his base (I am redundant) because bringing civil rights charges against Zimmerman seem difficult. <\/p>\n In other words, I was ready to really hate the statement.<\/p>\n But then I read his remarks, and watched the video,<\/strong> and found myself agreeing with much of it. It might be the best speech President Obama has made about anything, in a while. I agree with Chris Wallace (and Zimmerman\u2019s brother<\/a>) that this wasn\u2019t stoking racial tensions<\/a> or trying to further divide. In watching the videotape, I was actually touched by some of it, and Obama has never touched me, before.<\/p>\n And yet\u2026.<\/p>\n And yet\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n A part of me cannot help but think<\/strong> that the only reason President Obama addressed this story so personally today<\/em> was to get these other headlines off the table, and thrown down into the memory hole: <\/p>\n A Bombshell in the IRS Scandal A higher office is implicated.<\/a> <\/p>\n A White House Point Man at IRS is Revealed<\/a><\/p>\n Detroit Files for Bankruptcy<\/a> <\/p>\n What Policies Governed Detroit since 1961<\/a><\/p>\n Judge Rules Bankruptcy Must be Withdrawn<\/a><\/p>\n Biden: We don\u2019t know if WH can help!<\/a><\/p>\n Federal Court Rules NY Times Reporter Must Testify in Leak Investigation<\/a><\/p>\n NSA Phone Snooping Cannot Be Challenged in Court, Feds Say<\/a><\/p>\n HHS Admits You Might Not be Able to Keep Your Doctor Under Obamacare<\/a><\/p>\n Insurance Rates to Spike Over 70% in Indiana<\/a><\/p>\n Pentagon Does About-Face; Will Make Marine Colonel Available to Talk to Congress<\/a><\/p>\n Housing starts fall 9.9% in June<\/a><\/p>\n Hobby Lobby gets stay on HHS Mandate<\/a><\/p>\n Anti-Americanism in Egypt<\/a><\/p>\n The thing is,<\/strong> I know that questioning the motivation for Obama\u2019s speech today is cynical. And I know that cynicism is one of my besetting sins; I\u2019m not proud of it. It\u2019s something I struggle with, every day. I wish I were not just now<\/em> wondering if Obama made this speech today because the Duchess of Cambridge had not delivered her baby<\/a> in time to make all the bad headlines disappear, and keep them from being discussed on the Sunday talk shows.<\/p>\n Except, even that news might not have keep them from talking about the IRS, or the NSA.<\/p>\n Now, the men and women Calvin Trillin referred to as \u201cthe Sabbath Gasbags\u201d know what they\u2019ll be talking about this Sunday, and it won\u2019t be the IRS or the NSA or Benghazi or Detroit or the Economy. Even if they do mention a newborn prince or princess, this Sunday the conversation will be about these remarks made today.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re important remarks; they deserve attention.<\/strong> Yet, we\u2019ve been talking about race-relations in America \u2014 constructively or not \u2014 for a very long time; we\u2019re going to have to figure out what constitutes constructive dialogue on race and then embrace it. Today is one more day, however, that the press gets away with not<\/em> talking about issues involving government abuse and over-reach, the loss of fundamental rights; the possibility of cover-ups. And those are pretty important issues, too. <\/p>\n I hate that I am such a cynic.<\/strong> But our president has shown himself to be a pretty cynical politician<\/a>, himself. <\/p>\n Perhaps it is because I am too-much a cynic that I recognize it in others, and cannot help but wonder whenever our president does\u2026gosh, almost anything. Some of that is my fault. Some of it is his.<\/p>\n UPDATE I:<\/strong> To be brutally honest, the only reason people are even aware of Trayvon Martin is because it became a topic within mainstream news and pop culture. Meaning: News directors saw it as a profitable, sensational story. Hundreds of blacks die annually in South Side Chicago without even a blurb. Trayvon isn\u2019t in the mainstream news for any reason other than ratings and profit. The news coverage on the Zimmerman case almost implies that the killing of this young black man is somehow an anomaly and I resent that.<\/p>\n In this country, if it isn\u2019t streamlined through mainstream media and pop culture, it doesn\u2019t seem to warrant national debate. Our \u201cgovernment\u201d continues to wreak havoc on our civil liberties and there is little to no protest from the black community because of media diversion tactics that keep such pertinent issues out of mainstream media. But if Jay-Z or Rihanna were to make mention of it, we\u2019d suddenly be jolted out of our sugar comas and protesting on freeways.<\/p>\n My point being, people are up in arms about Trayvon based on regurgitated pundits and manipulated facts aired to elicit emotion while fueling America\u2019s anger and division. That\u2019s how you boost ratings. No different from Piers Morgan\u2019s desperate rant over gun control when he knew his ratings were in the dumps. And from where I stand, anyone who still relies on corporate-owned media pundits to support an argument isn\u2019t equipped to offer worthwhile solutions.<\/p>\n People are using Trayvon Martin\u2019s death as an excuse to project their own deep-seated issues with racism and will not be capable of intelligent, empathetic debate until they\u2019ve cooled down and afforded themselves an education.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, and that likely applies to all.<\/strong> Read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/7\/2013\/07\/Obama-speech.jpg\")
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\nProbably the biggest \u201cmust read\u201d to come out of this story<\/a>:<\/p>\n