President Obama spoke movingly today
about the slaying of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by a self-appointed vigilante last month, who has still not been arrested by local authorities. The Martin case has mushroomed into a national examination of how our nation has not moved beyond race, and how gun laws in a number of states encourage "shoot first, ask questions later" insanity. The Federal government is investigating the shooting, as are state and local agencies. The President said:
"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. I think [Trayvon's parents] are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."
He went on:
"I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means we examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident."
