Today, as the heat approached one-hundred degrees in Washington, D.C., some conservatives’ heads apparently felt the temperatures were more than double that, as they went ballistic with anti-Obama rage. Immediately after President Obama delivered a surprise and unscripted, important commentary that lasted about 18 minutes on the verdict in the George Zommerman trial on Trayvon Martin’s murder, and the larger issue of race, the right wing exploded with anger and charges of racism and race-baiting.
President Barack Obama spoke from the heart to reporters, saying, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”
LOOK: Obama: ‘Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me 35 Years Ago’ (Full Text And Video)
But it was this comment, “if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different” — that conservatives took out of context — ironically, given the actual, full comment:
“I think the African American community is also not naïve in understanding that, statistically, somebody like Trayvon Martin was statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else,” the President said. “So folks understand the challenges that exist for African American boys. But they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there’s no context for it and that context is being denied. And that all contributes I think to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.”
So what did the Obama-hating radical right have to say — thinking they understand race issues better than a Black president?
“President Obama is now our Race-Baiter in Chief. His remarks today on the Trayvon Martin tragedy are beyond reprehensible,” Fox News’ top culture and religion reporter and radio host wrote — on Facebook:
“Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” he said. He actually said the outcome might have been different if Trayvon had been white.
Folks – we have reached a very dangerous point in this nation when the president of the united states begins to question the judicial system.
Starnes apparently didn’t bother to read or listen to the part where Obama said, “once the jury has spoken, that’s how our system works.”
Starnes is the race-baiter. Starnes today committed journalistic malpractice and its time for him to pay the price in the court of public opinion.
Here’s the paragraph that proves my point. Just before President Obama said, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” he said this:
“The second thing I want to say is to reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there’s going to be a lot of arguments about the legal issues in the case — I’ll let all the legal analysts and talking heads address those issues. The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense 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. But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling.”
Starnes must apologize to the President and to his readers and followers.
Starnes isn’t the only one. Take a look:
[View the story “‘Obama Is Now Our Race-Baiter In Chief’ Cry The Radical Right” on Storify]