Obama Calls For ‘Reflection’ After Verdict: To ‘Prevent Future Tragedies’ Is ‘A Job For All Of Us’
President Barack Obama released a statement Sunday afternoon addressing the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the first time the President has spoken on the shooting of Trayvon Martin since a comment fifteen months ago when the controversial case was just beginning.
“The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy,” Obama’s statement read. “Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America.”
Obama urged the country to respect the jury’s decision and reflect upon the racial tensions and proclivity to gun violence that undergirded the Zimmerman trial:
“I know this case has elicited strong passions,” the statement read. “And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.
“I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”
Obama’s earlier statement on the case—in which he focused on Martin’s family and stated that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon—has since become notorious, with some accusing Obama of politicizing what should have remained a legal matter.
Read the statement HERE, via WhiteHouse.gov.
