Obama: ‘If I Had A Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon’

Almost a month after the tragedy, president calls for authorities to ‘get to the bottom’ of the case

President Barack Obama on Friday sent a strong message to Florida law enforcement agencies, which have come under fire for not charging George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain, in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

After announcing his nominee for the World Bank, Obama answered a reporter’s question about the case.

Transcript of the president’s comments, made just after 10 a.m.:

“I’m the head of the executive branch and the attorney general reports to me, so I’ve got to be careful about my statements to make sure we’re not impairing any investigation that’s taking place right now.”

“But obviously this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. “

“And that everybody pulls together – federal, state and local – to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened. I’m glad that not only is the Justice Department looking into it, I understand now that the governor of the state of Florida has formed a task force to investigate what (has) taken place.”

“I think all of us have to do some soul searching and figure out how does something like this happen. And that means we examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident.”

“But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. And I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness that it deserves. We’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. Alright, thank you.”

(View video of Pres. Obama’s comment above.)

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