20 | July | 2013 | The Obama Diary

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Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy Martin at the Miami Justice For Trayvon rally – Reuters.

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Beyonce and Jay Z with Sybrina Fulton & me at the #100CityTrayvon vigil – Rev. Al Sharpton

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‘I Am Not A Suspect’ – Terrell Gordon Jr, 6, holds his sign during a Justice for Trayvon rally in Miami

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New Orleans

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New Orleans today, Sharon Jasper with her grandson Tommie Butler, 6

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‘A woman holds a candle during a vigil for Trayvon Martin at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, Calif.’ – AP

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South Carolina State House – ThinkProgress

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Chicago – @ForUs50

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‘Don’t Shoot, I’m Just Young, Black and Walking’ (NY today) – @DCFashionista1

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Atlanta – @Alan4Florida

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Brooklyn – @MariyaNYC

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Washington, D.C. – @NoShock

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Chicago – @ForUs50

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At the Justice for Trayvon rally in Miami, July 20

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More moving pictures here

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May 8, 2009 – Photo by Pete Souza

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The Week Ahead:

Monday: The President will attend meetings at the White House

Tuesday: The President will welcome NCAA Champion Louisville Cardinals to the White House to honor the team and their 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

Wednesday: The President will travel to Galesburg, Illinois and Warrensburg, Missouri for events on the economy

Thursday: The President will welcome the President of Vietnam to the White House. In the afternoon, he will travel to Jacksonville, Florida for an event on the economy, and on Thursday evening he will host an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan at the White House

Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House

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Charles Blow (NYT): Barack and Trayvon

On Friday President Obama picked at America’s racial wound, and it bled a bit.

Despite persistent attempts by some to divest the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tragedy of its racial resonance, the president refused to allow it.

During a press briefing, Mr. Obama spoke of the case, soberly and deliberately, in an achingly personal tone, saying: “You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”

With that statement, an exalted black man found kinship with a buried black boy, the two inextricably linked by inescapable biases, one expressing the pains and peril of living behind the veil of his brown skin while the other no longer could.

More here

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President Obama, once again, steps up to the plate and cleans it.

— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) July 19, 2013

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Jonathan Capehart: … What is so significant is that the president spoke up for Trayvon. After a trial that seemed to put Trayvon on trial for his own death and a verdict that freed people to smear all young black men for the actions of a few, Obama’s nearly 20-minute oration restored Trayvon’s dignity …. he expressed unflinching sympathy for Trayvon’s parents and the Martin family.

….. The president also didn’t shy away from black-on-black crime and the other ills stalking black males …. But he also explained that those who would use those issues to justify disparate treatment of black men and boys only add to the collective pain of African Americans.

I was in the briefing room when the president said these words, and I will admit to a welling of the eyes …. To have a president who looks like me and has lived the same experience I have and to say so before the nation was as overwhelming as it was historic….

Full post here

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NYT Editorial: President Obama’s Anguish

President Obama did something Friday that he hardly ever does – and no other president could ever have done. He addressed the racial fault lines in the country by laying bare his personal anguish and experience in an effort to help white Americans understand why African-Americans reacted with frustration and anger to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin…..

….. It is a great thing for this country to have a president who could do what Mr. Obama did on Friday. It is sad that we still need him to do it.

Full editorial here

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TPM: Why Obama Decided To Speak Out On Race And The Zimmerman Verdict

President Obama decided Thursday that he would more fully and publicly address the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a White House aide told TPM.

“The president had been talking to friends and family about the verdict and their observations,” the aide said. “And late afternoon or early evening yesterday, he told a handful of his advisers that he’d like to speak publicly about it. He thought the timing was right.”

Obama had been following reactions to the verdict all around the country since it was handed down, “especially in African-American communities,” the aide said.

More here

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LA Times: Ira Acree spent two hours passing out fliers in front of the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago, hoping to spread the word about a “Justice for Trayvon” vigil at noon Saturday – one of at least 100 planned in cities across the nation.

On the way back to his car, Acree, a pastor, spotted a television in the lobby of the parking garage. A crowd had gathered in front, as if “watching the football game,” Acree said. President Obama was speaking.

In his first comments since a six-woman jury acquitted George Zimmerman of murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Obama spoke frankly and reflectively, relating his experiences with race and racial profiling. “Trayvon Martin could have been me,” the president said.

Obama’s earnest words moved Acree almost to tears.

“I just think that the president’s words may help whites across the nation at least understand us,” Acree said. “And be a little bit more emphathetic toward our actions tomorrow.”

More here

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The Atlantic: The Time Obama Was Mistaken for a Waiter at a Tina Brown Book Party …. He was a state senator then, and one of the few African Americans at the elite New York media event.

… “What I will always remember,” Rosman wrote in 2008, “is as I was leaving that party … I was approached by another guest, an established author. He asked about the man I had been talking to. Sheepishly he told me he didn’t know that Obama was a guest at the party, and had asked him to fetch him a drink. In less than six years, Obama has gone from being mistaken for a waiter among the New York media elite, to the president-elect. What a country.”

Full post here

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Okay, you know about the Salon piece by race-baiter David Sirota’s best buddy, Rich Benjamin?

re @salon and @RichBenjaminUSA, if you don’t want to give them page clicks: https://t.co/eKz9djPNl8

— Imani ABL (@AngryBlackLady) July 20, 2013

When Joy Reid tweeted this….

Salon is having a moment. That moment when you realize you need more black editors… Or at least one…

— Joy Reid (@TheReidReport) July 20, 2013

…. I wondered what the make-up of the senior staff was at the place. Then Allan Brauer RT’ed this:

Holiday dinner with @Salon team pic.twitter.com/bsYMYXEY

— Cindy Jeffers (@Cindy_Jeffers) December 14, 2012

Say no more.

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Dear @salon: Would love to know which editor was responsible for approving the Benjamin piece?

— Soledad O’Brien (@Soledad_OBrien) July 20, 2013

Has @Salon‘s site been hacked? That’s a serious question…

— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 20, 2013

I don’t even know what to say. Why would a progressive site publish a piece re: POTUS’ “inner n-word”? — Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 20, 2013

Unfollowed, unliked, unfavorited. I don’t know if you can ever make that right. good luck, @salon. @pareene I will miss you most of all.

— Jen Yarrington (@curiousjen) July 20, 2013

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Have you ever had the misfortune to read right winger Noah Rothman at Mediaite?

At times the guy makes Drudge seem reasonable – we’re talking a serious case of ‘Obama Derangement Syndrome’ here. Any way, feast your eyes on this exchange he had on Twitter with the Deadbeat Dad:

Next time you read @NoahCRothman‘s RW bile on Mediaite, remind yourself of this loving exchange and chuckle: pic.twitter.com/pnecIu9NgE

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) July 20, 2013

Isn’t that something? Walsh appreciates his friend’s work, and his friend says the feeling is mutual. Truly, you’d love to know precisely what aspect of Walsh’s work – well, before he was booted out by the electorate – Rothman so appreciates. Is it all those missed child support payments?

I laughed, but as ‏@wildcatatl put it, “truly disgusting”.

Nice pick, Mediaite.

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Meanwhile, the good work goes on….

Steve Benen: Secretary of State John Kerry has been in office for a little less than six months, and in that time, he’s made six trips to the Middle East in the hopes of renewing peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians…..

And while this hasn’t generated much interest from the political world, Kerry’s diligence has been pretty remarkable. Earlier this month, the Secretary of State was in Israel for four days, leading “the most intense Middle East peace push in years.” He left without a renewal of talks, but insisted his efforts had yielded real movement and “real progress” had been made.

At the time, skeptics scoffed. The Times of Israel’s David Horovitz said three weeks ago, “This is the fifth bid by the leading diplomat of the world’s superpower to persuade these two people to go into a room together, and even that he cannot achieve. At some point it becomes embarrassing and humiliating for the United States.”

And yet, this afternoon, Kerry announced peace talks are prepared to resume for the first time in several years….

More here

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Morning everyone.