Updated - Obama and Zimmerman, Both Are Hiding Today

Alabama - 1963

Update: Statement by the President:

The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy.  Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America.  I know this case has elicited strong passions.  And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher.  But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.  I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.  And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.  We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.  We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this.  As citizens, that’s a job for all of us.  That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.
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Even a banal statement from the White House would be appreciated at this point: 2:26 P.M. Eastern Time, Sunday.

Whatever calculation the White House made, it came to the wrong conclusion.

Silence is moral complicity here.

Shite, borrow from President Kennedy in 1963:

The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he can not send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would be content with the counsels of patience and delay?

Wondering really how much progress has been made when a president is so hesitant, so afraid of offending racists when an American, because his skin is dark, cannot go to a convenience store in public, buy some Skittles candy and not come home because he has been scrutinized, judged and killed.

Myself, I have little patience this Sunday.

Stephen Stafford writes today, "Zimmerman will now feel what its like to live in fear of being followed by strangers for the rest of his life."

That's right. Welcome to being black in America.