Via my colleague Jed Lewison at Daily Kos — President Obama is speaking live now. We will update.10:43 AM PT:
— @mpoindc
10:46 AM PT: Obama says DOJ and mayors should work together on training related to racial profiling.
10:47 AM PT: It’s pretty clear President Obama read this Ta-Nehisi Coates guest column in the New York Times.
10:46 AM PT: Predictable anger from the right:
10:47 AM PT: Obama: “If Trayvon Martin was of age and was armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we think he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened. And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems we need to rethink [Stand Your Ground] laws.”
10:51 AM PT: President Obama also says it’s crucial to “do a better job helping young African-American men feel that they’re a full part of the society and that they’ve got pathways and avenues to succeed.”
— @jbouie
10:54 AM PT: Obama ends on a positive note, saying that while racism is not over, and while we don’t live in a post-racial society, things are getting better, and with every successive generation, things get better. “Kids these days have more sense than we did,” he says. “We’re becoming a more perfect union. Not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.” And the president exits the briefing room.
— @LOLGOP
what conservatives will hear: “Kill the white people”
— @owillis
Francisco Bacopa says
I thought today’s speech was awesome. This is the Obama I voted for.