4. "If I Had A Son..."
"My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. All of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves." -Barack Obama, 23 March 2012 It was arguably one of the most divisive court cases of this generation, and it really didn't have to be. For those international readers who may not be aware, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American teenager of Sanford, Florida, was gunned down by overzealous neighborhood watch guard George Zimmerman last February. Zimmerman, who plead self defense as the unarmed teen allegedly smashed Zimmerman's head into the driveway pavement repeatedly when the trigger was pulled, was arrested and charged with murder. I wish I could explain why this case was different from any other murder investigation where it made national headlines, but whether it was because Trayvon was a teenager or he was black and was allegedly profiled, a teenager is still dead and my thoughts remain with the Martin family. Shortly after the arrest was made, the President made the remarks that "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Some supporters have praised him for his empathy, while some critics pointed out, critics that I can't help but agree with, that Obama's remarks even further politicized the case and incited race as a factor; one analyst even went so far as to compare Barack and Michelle's features to prove that the "son" would look nothing like Trayvon, which went a bit far for everybody, obviously. Three weeks ago, Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder by reason of self defense, which has led to protests, sit-ins and general civil unrest in some parts of the country. Immediately following the verdict, the President further built upon his remarks regarding Trayvon, saying that protests should remain civil and nonviolent, and that he feels the 17-year-old could have been him 35 years ago. These impromptu remarks were praised for the sense of empathy and call for civility and also criticized for further inciting politics in the case, and the critics' fire was further fueled with news that Obama's Justice Department would look into pursuing charges for hate crimes against Zimmerman, a man who was found not guilty by a jury of his peers. At the time of this publication, however, rumors of this endeavor have slowly but surely disappeared and legal experts have said it would never fly in a court of law due to the "double jeopardy" clause in the Constitution, where a person may not be tried in criminal court for the same crime twice. It will be interesting, however, to see if this leads to a civil case with the Martin family against Zimmerman, which is an exception to this clause.