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Examining President Obama's Remarks about Martin Case and Verdict

Aired July 19, 2013 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news here at the top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin on this Friday. Great to see you.

Wow, what a surprise we have all witnessed if you've been tuned in the last half hour. We were watching the president surprise everyone, walking up to the podium there at the White House daily briefing and, for the first time, speaking publicly about the George Zimmerman second-degree murder trial. Going very, very personal, very heartfelt, not using a teleprompter. Clearly having thought given much time to what he would say in making this message very personal.

I want to play just a little bit of what we heard from the president speaking for just about 20 minutes here in front of a group of reporters in that briefing room. We'll bring in our chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, for how this went down. But first here's the president making this personal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African-American men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator. There are very few African-Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.

And, you know, I don't want to exaggerate this but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it's inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was just a piece of what the president had to say, sort of ending with a couple of specifics. He said he'd been bouncing around with some of his staff as far as how we can push this forward, how we can learn lessons here really nationwide.

A couple of voices I want to bring in. As I mentioned, our chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin. Also host of the "State of the Union," Candy Crowley. We have Sunny Hostin, who was in and out of that courtroom each and every day in Sanford, Florida, CNN legal analyst, and Gloria Borger, chief political analyst.

So, Jessica, let me just go to you first. Wow. I mean we were all watching, right, as we do the daily briefing. And, surprise, it's the president. What did you know about it?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We knew nothing here and that was a big surprise to all of us, I'll tell you, Brooke. For the president, he was obviously under the White House enormous pressure to come out and say something before the week was up. I'll tell you that I covered the president since 2007, when he was first running for this office, and this was the most -- or as personal and as bluntly as I've ever heard him speak about both racism in America and his own experience of racism in his life. I've heard him talk about it at least once before when he spoke about his own grandmother's experience of racism toward another black man. But never quite like this, Brooke.

And I think that this marks a clear departure for him. In his first term, he was very reluctant to ever cast things in terms of race in America. He always talked about class and how he was trying to rise -- improve the tide for all boats and improve the lot for all Americans. And here you saw him come out and clearly say that there is a different experience for blacks in America and he can speak to that. And it's an important moment for this president, an important moment for America and he says he doesn't want to lead a conversation in race because it's awkward and forced, but that's really what he's doing here.

And he took a step in that direction, not just by laying out the legal steps and governmental steps he'll take, but just by coming before cameras and talking about, I could have been Trayvon Martin, he said, Brooke.

BALDWIN: He is the son of biracial parents. Father from Kenya. Mother from Kansas. He has spoken, as we all know, on race before, giving a speech on race when everything happened with Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Candy Crowley, to you. You know, when I listen to these kinds of things, and to Jessica's point, he was incredibly personal. I mean I was taking notes saying, not only as we had heard him say last year about how, you know, had he had a son, it would look like Trayvon - he would look like Trayvon Martin. He was saying, another way of saying that, Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. I just want your take of what was said and also, equally important, what wasn't said.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think one of the things that wasn't said, and I think this is where he was -- you know, this is a thoughtful guy. This is somebody who thinks these sorts of things through. He has been under pressure, particularly from the African-American community, on a whole host of issues, by the way, but especially to come and speak out on this.

But he did not get into the jury was right or the jury was wrong or the verdict was racist or what brought him there was racist. He got into the prism, what I call the prism thing, which is look at this through the prism of the African-American community. Look at this history. And, by the way, you know me and here are the experiences I have had and look where I am.

I've heard him talk about, you know, taxis not picking him up, that sort of thing, but this was so - it was personal. Something he does not do easily or often. I was there for the Jeremiah Wright thing. I was there for that race speech in Philadelphia. But that was scholarly.

BALDWIN: Huh.

CROWLEY: This wasn't so much scholarly as it was, try to understand here that the system itself still has real -- he didn't use the word "racist," but still has real problems, particularly for young African- American males. I mean - so he took it to the system as opposed to this particular trial and I think, therefore, elevated the discussion.

BALDWIN: Yes, his final point, when he was running through a couple of specifics, how we can learn lessons and move forward, you know, that final example he gave was really reinforced and support these young African-American boys who are growing up to be men in this country. He said it was something that he and Michelle Obama, you know, certainly had discussed at home. Let me just play a part of that. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: A lot of African-American boys are painted with a broad brush. And the excuse is given, well, there are these statistics out there that show that African-American boys are more violent. Using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, as a mom of a young son, I know he's -- he's young. He's 10. But you hear the president say that. What do you think?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Gosh, I have so many thoughts running through my mind right now, Brooke, not only as a woman of color, but especially as a mother of a young brown boy. And it's something that we've been discussing amongst my friends. My friends that have young African-American boys at home. And I think the president needed to address this.

This was something that I think he struck the right tone. But I think it really is relevant. It is a point to reflect upon the prism through which many in the African community have reviewed this case and have reviewed and received this verdict.

I've got to tell you, I was in the courtroom each and every day. I thought that there was going to be a guilty verdict. I thought, as a former prosecutor, looking at it through my legal lens, that certainly the government had proved, at the very least, manslaughter. And so when this verdict came back, I questioned, along with many of my colleagues and my friends of color, did race play a part in the perception that the jury had in looking at the evidence, because I looked at the evidence completely differently and I wonder if it is because I looked at the evidence through the prism of my experience.

And I think it's so important to have these discussions. It's so important for our young African-American boys to have someone like the president as a role model speak out about what has been so long in our system the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about, which is race in our judicial system and how it affects our children.

BALDWIN: But back to the perspective thing, I mean that was one of the president's initial points saying, look, everyone brings their own personal experience. You know, he, as the son of a biracial couple, as an African-American man, as a president, bringing his own experience.

But here's where I want to go, Gloria, because I was watching you earlier in the week and you said something to the effect of, the president wants to be a facilitator, he does not want to be a lightning rod. And I can't help but listen to the president and think, I've had several conversations this week with folks on the other side who say, listen, the word they use is inject. The president injected himself in the conversation last year when he said, if I had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin. Now he's taking it a step further. He's doubling down saying, I would have been - I could have been Trayvon Martin 35 years ago. What are the critics thinking right now?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. You know, look, you know, the irony was, he didn't want the conversation to become about him. And that often happens when he talks about race. But then he got to a point where if he didn't speak about this, the conversation would continue to be about him and why he hadn't spoken about it. So he spoke about it.

And I think what was stunning to me is, you know, this is, as Candy and Jessica said earlier, you know, this is somebody who doesn't emote publicly a lot. But he came to this podium today as an African- American male, president of the United States, reflecting soberly on some really important questions we need to discuss in this country. And he kind of distilled all of these questions down to one key question. As I was listening to him, he said, and he asked the country, just think, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?

BALDWIN: He made the point.

BORGER: That -

BALDWIN: He made the point about Stand Your Ground. And if I may, just jump back in.

BORGER: That's right.

BALDWIN: You know, and we have to be crystal clear, Stand Your Ground, the law in Florida, was not used in the defense. But nevertheless, the president brought it up. Let me play that sound bite.

BORGER: But it is a law in 30 states. Yes.

BALDWIN: Twenty-two. Yes. Roll it.

BORGER: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And for those who -- who resist that idea that we should think about something like the Stand Your Ground laws, I just ask people to consider, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And 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?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So his point, the point that proceeded that, this was step number two, as specific, he said, we need to examine state and local laws to see, i.e., Stand Your Ground, to see if they resign (ph) in a way that they may encourage altercations and tragedies rather than defuse.

All right, Sunny.

HOSTIN: And - and, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, I wanted to go to you.

HOSTIN: Yes, I need to say this, because I think it's sort of a misunderstanding of what happened at trial. Everyone is saying, well, the defense didn't bring up Stand Your Ground or Stand Your Ground wasn't a part of this case. Stand Your Ground was very much a part of this case. It was --

BALDWIN: The jury considered it?

HOSTIN: The jury was instructed.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HOSTIN: And the instructions clearly said George Zimmerman -- if you find George Zimmerman had the right to stand his ground, the words were actually used in the jury instructions. The jury certainly considered it. And the prosecution did argue in closing, in their rebuttal argument, didn't Trayvon Martin have the right to stand his ground? So I heard over and over again this week everyone saying Stand Your Ground wasn't a part of this trial. That is incorrect. It was a part of this trial. And that is one of the reasons why we need to address Stand Your Ground laws around the country.

YELLIN: But, Brooke -

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Jessica.

YELLIN: What the president's trying to do here, I think, is address not the facts really in this case and not specifically the Stand Your Ground law, but really rise above the specifics of this case and actually speak to white America and say to white America, as a black person, as a black man, white America can relate to, let me tell you how black Americans are seeing this and why so many black Americans are upset by this verdict. And let me explain to you a difference in perspective. And that's why he said, can -- could Trayvon Martin have won a defense with a Stand Your Ground defense. Whether it was relevant to this case or not, that's why that point mattered.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. Right.

YELLIN: And he's trying to say, let's try to relate to one another. Let's use empathy here. That's why it was so he spoke he spoke and that's why the black community was calling on him to speak for so long. That's why his leading this conversation matters.

BALDWIN: I have to hit pause quickly. Jessica Yellin, Sunny Hostin, Gloria Borger, Candy Crowley, thank you so much. Stay with me. Have to get a break in.

We're bringing in more voices on this stunner. President Obama speaking for 20 minutes during a White House daily briefing, weighing in on his own personal experience with regard to this trial that ended just about a week ago Saturday with the two words that the jury of six women reached, "not guilty." We will hear coming up from Trayvon Martin's own parents, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to continue this national conversation on our breaking news in which we saw the president of the United States step before a group of White House reporters and camera crews just about an hour ago during the White House daily briefing, stunned everyone and spoke for 20 minutes. After much debate has happened this past week, after the not guilty verdict in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, the president spoke. He spoke from his heart. He spoke without a teleprompter. He spoke for quite a while about his own personal experience, speaking about his wife, speaking about young African-American boys and how our country needs to reinforce them as they grow up to be these young men and gave specifics as to how we can learn the lesson, perhaps how we can take a look at some of the laws in this country. So I just want to play a little bit, actually, from Trayvon Martin's parents who did mention the president when they sat down and spoke with Anderson Cooper for an entire hour last night on CNN. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRACY MARTIN, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FATHER: We thought that there was enough evidence there, no matter who was on that jury, to convict him of second-degree murder. And when you think about it, I think that they just took into account what George Zimmerman said was the truth. Trayvon wasn't here to tell his story. But the mindset of that juror, they, some of them had their minds made up no matter what story was told.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": The juror, B37, and I assume the other jurors as well, didn't discuss race in the jury room, according to juror B37. I want to play something she said. She clearly does not believe that race played any role in the profiling of Trayvon Martin, at any level in this case. Let's play that.

Do you feel that George Zimmerman racially profiled Trayvon Martin? Do you think race played a role in his decision, his view of Trayvon Martin as suspicious?

JUROR B37: I don't think he did. I think just circumstances caused George to think that he might be a robber or trying to do something bad in the neighborhood because of all that had gone on previously. There were - there were unbelievable a number of robberies in the neighborhood.

COOPER: So you don't believe race played a role in this case?

JUROR B37: I don't think it did. I think if -- if there was another person, Spanish, white, Asian, if they came in the same situation where Trayvon was, I think George would have reacted the exact same way.

COOPER: What do you think of that?

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: I think that's a joke because he clearly said in the 911 calls that it was a black teenager. An African-American teenager. So that was the profile. That was the person that he was looking for because that was the person or people that were breaking in, in the area. Unfortunately, Trayvon was not one of those people. Trayvon had every right to be in that community. Trayvon had every right to go to the store and come back in peace and safe. So I think that's really a joke. I don't understand why she wouldn't see that. But then again, there's the disconnect. There's definitely a disconnect.

MARTIN: Do the system work? It didn't work for us. But we -- we remain prayerful that the system, through this injustice, that we can build some type of -- we can close that gap and hopefully that the system can start working for everyone equally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to get reaction to that, especially in the wake of the president speaking and mentioning the system. Sunny Hostin, a voice who we have been talking to throughout this trial, former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst.

And, Sunny, when you hear Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, you know, saying - it was Sybrina Fulton's word, it was a joke hearing the juror say that race wasn't a factor. You know, the president didn't mention race specifically in this trial, but what are your thoughts?

HOSTIN: Well, again, I mean that goes back to the perspective or the lens with which you view this trial. And I had the opportunity to interview Trayvon's parents last night for HLN. And they feel that while they believe in the justice system, which is incredible given their experience, they feel that the system failed them. They do feel that their son was racially profiled. And to suggest that race wasn't a part of this case, whether it be from George Zimmerman's perspective in profiling or using race as part of the profile of Trayvon Martin, or whether it was part of the lens through which the jury looked at this evidence, I think it's really naive to suggest that race was not a part of this case. I mean there's just no question that at the very least it was the elephant in the room. And at the very worst, it was a real part of this case.

And I think what is fascinating is that this family, which the president even remarked, handled this with such dignity, such elegance, such grace, still believes in the system. I actually asked them, even though they're not happy with the verdict, what does justice look like for them now? And their response was interesting. Their response was, you know, we want to raise awareness about, you know, racial hatred. We want to raise awareness about gun violence against our teens. We want to --

BALDWIN: They started the foundation.

HOSTIN: They started this foundation, the Trayvon Martin Foundation. And they also want us to review the laws. The Stand Your Ground laws in our country. And so, you know, it's a - I think the one thing, Brooke, that may have come out of this tragedy, the one good thing, is that we were -- are all discussing this. And that perhaps there will be real change at the end of the day.

BALDWIN: I think to your point about the president in saying that everyone's bringing their own perspectives, this is what the president said, in case you missed it. In the African-American community, there is a lot of pain. It's important to recognize the African-American community is looking at this issue through a different set of experiences and history that doesn't go away.

I want to come back to you, Sunny, but I'm curious with regard to the parents - and, Jessica Yellin, let me bring you back in, our chief White House correspondent.

Jessica, my question to you is, do we know -- the president said his thoughts and prayers, you know, of course, go to Ms. Fulton and Mr. Martin, but has he at all reached out to talk to them? Communicate?

YELLIN: The White House has not said that he's reached out to them. And as far as we know, the answer is no. I would suspect that at some point that would happen, Brooke. But it's very clear that the White House wants to stay out of the specifics of this case. And the president doesn't want to get involved while the Department of Justice is still determining whether there is a federal case to pursue with George Zimmerman. As you recall, the Department of Justice is looking into whether there is a hate crimes case to pursue against George Zimmerman. So perhaps it would seem inappropriate for the president to make contact while another branch of his government is making that decision.

If I could make one point about -

BALDWIN: Sure. YELLIN: The quote you just read. You know, as I said earlier, the president seems to be trying to speak to white America and saying, listen, if you don't see why so many African-Americans are upset and disappointed in this verdict, remember the history of racism that through which many African-Americans are seeing this verdict. I think it's worth remembering, the president is just off the heels of a visit to Africa. And while he was in Africa --

BALDWIN: South Africa.

YELLIN: He stood in the doorway where so many African men and women were shipped off to the United States as slaves. And it was just within the last few weeks. And he was talking to his own daughters about not just Nelson Mandela, but Mahatma Gandhi and all the liberators who fought for peace and fought for justice. I mean this history is so fresh for him right now and he has to see himself as, you know, as part of the history, making these -- helping these conversations forward and helping -- helping have this conversation. It's got to be very personal for him, but also difficult and delicate. And he knows that. And these experiences are just so fresh coming off that trip, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. It's a delicate dance. You mentioned Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa. Here we have the first black president in the United States. And the fact that he has now addressed this publicly for 20 minutes is huge.

Jessica Yellin, thank you. We'll come back to you.

But coming up next, I'm going to bring in Charles Blow (ph) of "The New York Times." I don't know if you saw him with Anderson this past week on a town hall, but he led a pretty emotional discussion when he talked about talking to his son. And he talked about how fast or how slow young African-American men can walk in this country now. We'll hear from him and his reaction to the president speaking, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)