PREZ TO NATION – WE MUST SOUL SEARCH. AND WE MUST!

 President Barack Obama called on the nation to engage in “soul searching.” Making his first public remarks Friday in the wake of the controversy over the acquittal of volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin the President said: “The question, for me, at least, and I think for a lot of folks is, ‘Where do we take this?'” Obama said. “How do we learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction?”

President Obama’s remarks were delivered in a surprise appearance at a sparsely attended Friday afternoon White House press briefing and served as some of the most extensive and personal remarks Obama has made on race since he became president. “When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son,” Obama said. “Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago.” Like other African-American men, Obama said he has been followed in department stores and heard the click of car locks when he has walked past. “I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida,” Obama said. “And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear.” Obama said he’s talking with aides about steps that can be taken to avoid such incidents, including a possible review of the controversial “stand your ground” laws in nearly two dozen states. Though the Florida law wasn’t used in Zimmerman’s defense, Obama asked if Martin “was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?” But he said that despite criticism of the trial, it was handled “in a professional manner” and that “once the jury’s spoken, that’s how our system works.”