Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trayvon Martin: The Prez Can't Win
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/3/24/94821/7781Trayvon Martin: The Prez Can't Win
by BooMan
Sat Mar 24th, 2012 at 09:48:21 AM EST
snip//
Everyone knows that Trayvon Martin was black. What the president was saying is that this case has hit him on a personal level because he can really identify with the mourning parents. For Newt Gingrich, this is appalling. Here's what Newt said on the Sean Hannity Show:
“It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background," Gingrich said. "Is the President suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn’t look like him?"
...
"That’s just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot," Gingrich continued on Hannity's show. "It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian-American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American. It is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling.”
...
"That’s just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot," Gingrich continued on Hannity's show. "It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian-American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American. It is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling.”
So, the president, by not specifically mentioning race, was trying to turn a racially-motivated murder into a racial issue. At the same time, prominent members of the black community are criticizing him for not being explicit enough and not interjecting himself into the story sufficiently. It seems that the president cannot win.
Gingrich's comments are particularly egregious and opportunistic. People are murdered all the time. What makes the Trayvon Martin case noteworthy is that the police know who the murderer is and have so far simply refused to arrest him. It is highly unlikely that a white boy, even one wearing a hoodie, would have been followed, harassed and shot to death, but it is completely unthinkable that a white boy's death would not have resulted in an arrest.
snip//
He was gunned down because he was black and Zimmerman assumed he was an "asshole" who didn't belong in his neighborhood. But, again, racially-motivated murders happen quite frequently. The reason the president is talking about this case is because the police didn't do anything. That's the reason the whole nation and the world are talking about this case. And if Newt Gingrich thinks that white parents would be treated this way, he's delusional. But Newt doesn't think that. Go to the comments section at Fox News and start reading some of the 10,000 hate-filled comments about the president's remarks on Trayvon Martin and you will understand exactly what Newt Gingrich is doing.
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
is upset that we have a black President and that people want justice for a black teenager who was gunned down in cold blood?
Who could have guessed? 
