US President Barack Obama weighed into the controversial killing of a black teenager in Florida in very personal terms on Friday, comparing the boy to a son he doesn’t have and calling for US “soul searching” over how the incident occurred.
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, dressed in a “hoodie” sweatshirt, was shot dead a month ago in Sanford, Florida, by a 28-year-old white Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense.
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Obama said in his first comments about the shooting, acknowledging the racial element in the case.
“Obviously, this is a tragedy,” Obama told reporters. “I can only imagine what these parents are going through and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.”
The case has rippled across the nation and prompted rallies protesting the failure of the police to arrest the shooter, George Zimmerman, and, more broadly, a pattern of racial discrimination black leaders cite in Sanford and elsewhere in the country.
Obama made his remarks at a White House event to announce his pick to lead the World Bank, waiting briefly after the announcement to take a reporter’s question about the incident.
Martin’s parents thanked the president for his words.
“The president’s personal comments touched us deeply and made us wonder: If his son looked like Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious too?” they said in a statement.
Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law allows people to use deadly force in self-defense.
Similar laws are in effect in at least 24 states, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Calls are mounting to repeal them.
Earlier this week, a Florida state senator said he was drafting new legislation to drastically change the law in Florida.
Obama said the Stand Your Ground laws should be studied.
“I think all of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen and that means examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident,” he said.
Sanford city manager Norton Bonaparte Jr said that tensions between the black community and police “go back many, many years.”
“The trust that existed is gone, so we have to start from ground zero,” he said.
Sanford’s police chief and a Florida state prosecutor overseeing the case stepped down on Thursday as criticism grew over the police handling of the investigation.
The US Department of Justice is also investigating. Senior officials from the department met with the Martin family in Florida on Thursday, along with their lawyer.
A department spokeswoman said early in the week that they must collect evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was intent to violate civil rights laws.
A Florida college announced it had suspended Zimmerman’s enrollment.
Zimmerman was working toward an associates degree in arts at Seminole State College in Sanford. He previously earned a vocational certificate in an insurance field, the school said.
“Due to the highly charged and high-profile controversy involving this student, Seminole State has taken the unusual, but necessary, step this week to withdraw Mr Zimmerman from enrollment,” a statement dated Thursday said.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the frontrunner in the Republican race to be nominated to face Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election, added his voice to the issue as well.
“What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. There needs to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity,” Romney said.
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