Race Relations and President Obama

The most remarkable thing about President Obama's "I could have been Trevon" press conference was what it revealed about his own views on race. Specifically, it shows that, as far as he is concerned, any time someone thinks that a black person is acting suspiciously, the only possible reason is his skin color. He outright said this when he speculated that things would have been different if Martin was white.

What was his basis for saying this? He didn't say and the evedence is against him. Investigations into Zimmerman's past showed that he had a long, positive history with blacks. He had black friends and business partners. He mentored black children. What is more, seeing a black face in his neighborhood was nothing new. One out of every five people on his street was black. Regardless of this, the President is positive that Martin was under suspicion because he is black. This says far more about Obama than about George Zimmerman.

Obama went on to give a personal history of suspicion. It is undeniable that racial tension exists in America but it is very possible that some of the incidents he describes had other factors besides race.

When he was in high school, he smokes a lot of pot. He must have reeked of it The potheads in my high school did.

As for being followed in stores - it happened to me, mainly when I was with a girlfriend in women's stores.

I have a personal story of my own, In the 1990 we had two employees who violated written work rules about absences without leave. One was a white man and the other a black woman. Both had similar number of violations and the personnel actions taken were identical. Despite this, the black woman insisted that the actions were racially motivated.

My point here is that not everything is about race. As long as the President and other people of color insist that it is they will have a racial divide with whites.