Getty Images President Barack Obama speaks on the Trayvon Martin case during remarks in the White House briefing room on Friday.
President Barack Obama gave his first public reaction to the verdict in the Trayvon Martin shooting, in often highly personal remarks about race in America and the reasons the shooting of the teenager resonated so deeply among African-Americans.
In unscheduled comments Friday afternoon, Mr. Obama said the trial of George Zimmerman, who was found not guilty on charges related to Mr. Martin's death, was conducted in a professional manner and the jury rendered its verdict, which is "how the system works." Mr. Obama said his thoughts and prayers were with Mr. Martin's family.
Mr. Obama, the first black president in the country's history, quickly shifted to a more personal discussion about why the case, and the verdict, struck such a nerve among African-Americans because of their own experiences. The verdict prompted demonstrations in cities across the country.
"[W]hen Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son," Mr. Obama said. "Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago."
Mr. Obama said it would be hard to find an African-American man in America who hasn't been followed around a department store by security or heard car doors locking as they came down the street. He included himself among the people who have had those experiences.
Mr. Obama said the African-American community isn't "naïve" and is aware that young African-American men "are disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence." He said the U.S. needs to look at its gun and criminal laws to ensure they don't encourage violence.
On the "stand your ground" laws, Mr. Obama said the country has to ask itself whether such laws encourage violence. He asked people to consider what would have happened if Mr. Martin shot George Zimmerman instead of the other way around.
"Do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?" Mr. Obama said. "And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws."
He also called for a broad conversation on race but said it shouldn't be led by politicians but by families, religious leaders and others.
"I haven't seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations. They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the positions they already have," Mr. Obama said.
The president's remarks represent his most extensive comments on race since a speech he gave in Philadelphia while a presidential candidate in 2008. Mr. Obama gave the speech on the volatile issue after a wave of negative publicity about racially charged remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., that threatened to erode support among white voters.
"The issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through," he said, and he made it personal: "I can no more disown him [Rev. Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother…who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."
Write to Jared A. Favole at jared.favole@dowjones.com
