the criminal justice system, that they're disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. it's not to make excuses for that fact, although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. they understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor, black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country. and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. so the fact that sometimes that's unacknowledged adds to the frustration. for those 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? >> nbc's peter alexander is in the white house briefing room right now. the president today took everyone by surprise with it. you didn't expect to see him. then you were there watching history. >> yeah, toure, that's exactly right. we literally got no warning this would be taking place. we saw the president in the briefing room. i made the sprint up this hallway. the first remark out of mouths of reporters was whoa. the first remarks by the president was, do you think anybody else is coming? this is one of the most historic moments, certainly on the issue of race of president obama's presidency. no one anticipated it would happen. we're still trying to gather

information about the back story, about the conversations that have taken place among he, among his advisers, but we do know that there was a conversation or a continuance of conversations between he and his wife michelle and his daughters that he referenced in his remarks as well. this is an issue, the issue of race that has guided and affected so much of his life. he deeply personalized the experience of african-americans, i think personalizing the angst and anguish african-americans are experiencing right now in the wake of the verdict following the death of trayvon martin. the use of the words "i" and "me" is perhaps as critical as any other in the remarks he made today, specifically referencing the experiences he's had personally where he has witnessed people keeping an eye on him as he noted when he would walk through department stores and even noted how young african-american men across this country know what it's like to walk through a parking lot and see people lock the doors of their car as they pass. he's obviously been treading

very lightly on the issue of policy movements, any decisions that will be made more formally by this administration. here's a little bit about what the president had to say in those terms. but beyond protests or vigils, the question is, are there concretes things we can do? i think it's important for people to have some clear expectations here. traditionally, these are issues of state and local government, the criminal code and law enforcement as traditionally done at the state and local levels, not the federal levels. >> the president also tried to offer a hopeful note. he said specifically, things are getting better. he spoke of conversations and the experiences he and michelle obama have had witnessing their two daughters and their friends. he said specifically, they're better than we are, better than we were. he also concluded by saying that this remains a work in progress. the effort to become a more perfect union. he said it's not a perfect union

yet. we want it to become a more perfect union, which was in some ways a bookend to the i had historic speech he gave on race in 2008, then senator barack obama that was given under that perfect name, more perfect union. >> peter, definitely a bookend to the philadelphia speech. you didn't expect today's speech, so i don't know if you can answer this question, but so much was laid out on the table today. any expectation if there will be any policy or any other speech coming after this one? >> that's a good question, obviously they caught us by surprise today. so i couldn't tell you what exactly is going to happen next at this point. but i think what was most striking is that this president, as we often refer to the idea of the bully pulpit, in some ways this was an opportunity to use that bully pulpit to spark a true conversation on the issue of race without dissecting the language used in the political circuit to politicize this conversation of race. just from an effort, he said this is in many ways less about what happens here but more about

what happens in homes, in churches, and around dinner tables across this country as americans. i think in his words, he said the need for soul searching. he said we should all ask ourselves, am i wringing as much bias out of myself as i can? i think president obama would be as satisfied as anybody if that is a question that americans across this country of all colors are asking themselves tonight. >> yeah, peter, that's one of the quotes that i wrote down, one of the more important moments in this speech. thanks for your reporting there. let's take this historic moment to the table and take a moment to point out we have an all-male "cycle" for perhaps the four time with four guys. steve kornacki still here. luke russert joins us today. >> quite a day. >> an instant analysis of history is always something we should be a little skeptical of. but this is the media where we live in. we have to come out here and talk about this. we haven't really had time to fully digest it. but i have been feeling it depressed since the trayvon martin or george zimmerman verdict came out.

i felt that it said that a black life is worth a little bit less, that it's okay to say that i was afraid of a black person who i followed and stepped to. and this moment suddenly made me feel proud and lifted me out of the funk i'd felt since that moment. i think partly because i felt like we have had a president who is black, who has not been doing things perhaps politically speaking could not do things for the black community that another president like a bill clinton could. here in this moment, we have a black president, a person who is a black leader, who's a thoughtful person on these issues addressing america saying things like are you wringing as much bias out of yourself as you can? talking about it in a very personal way. i have been the person who you have clutched your purse over or moved over to it the other side of the elevator or crossed the street for. those sort of things he did in that philadelphia speech saying, you know, my grandmother moves away from people like me, but i know the other side because she loves me.

if you know somebody you won't see them in a racialized way the same way you might see a stranger, having a hard time extending humanity to them. didn't let black people or black community off the hook in this moment, noting the black-on-black violence, which is as much of a plague if not more. if you think about why is he doing this now, i don't want this to be taken down in some cynical way. there is a storm going on around race in this country right now. race is like the weather. we only talk about it when we see the extremes, but it's there all the time. we are having extreme weather right now if you think about what's going on with stand your ground, what's going on with the voting rights act, what's going on with stop and frisk in new york and other cities. it needs to be spoken to right now. >> we've talked about these issues a lot. today was undoubtedly a historic address by the president. i should emphasize what he said was historic for its content and wub significant from any

president given the scope of these issues. he is of course a president who is black. it was personal. it was painful. it was heartfelt. it was also practical because he was very clear about what he can do and what some of the limitations are, many of which are legal, criminal code, largely a state law issue. and it was statistical. because he referred to the larger story that came out of the collection of those stories he was telting. when he referred to the fact that people would profile him for being black for most of his life until he became a u.s. senator, right. that's what he said today. they were profiling me. they were scared of me. they were coming at me. that's very real. some people, that might sound surprising to. others, it's no surprise at all. before he was a u.s. senator, he was a harvard law graduate, a top attorney, a university of chicago professor, a published author. i mean, that is a pretty high bar right there that i think speaks to black america, black

america gathering this weekend, the fire storm you're talking about. let's take a listen. i cued up one part here that i thought was striking. let's listen to this. >> the african-american community is also knowledgeable that there's a history of racial disparities and the application of our criminal laws. everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. >> the president is talking there about statistical disparities and the way our criminal justice system treats people, even when they are accused of the same crime, even when they are suspects in the same type of crime. i just want to add before i stop, i just want to add some of those numbers because they are the predicate. they are the factual background for what we're talking about. african-americans comprise 14% of regular drug users and 37% of those arrested for drug use, according to the drug policy alliance. african-americans are arrested

at double the rate of whites during police interactions and four times as often in encounters with black suspects do they face force from police. these are not differences of 5 or 10 or 20%. the statistics go to suspects, just to treatment. it goes through the our criminal justice system. that is why this case polarizes -- because some people don't see it. if you know those facts, you know what some of those problems are. >> that's sort of the issue here. it's kind of interesting. i thought it was a very powerful thing, powerful speech to listen to. if you look at the history of obama talking about race as president, there isn't too much history to go on. you think about skip gates in 2010. you think about the backlash. it came across as threatening. so my question in watching this

today is, he gave vice to the experience of african-americans in this country in a very powerful and moving way. my question is, is that going to break across the political divide in a way that some of his previous attempts haven't? he talked about -- and we'll play the clip of it here -- the idea of a national conversation on race. it's almost a cliche. i remember bill clinton even commissioned a national conversation on race as president. i don't know if it got us far, but obama talked about that today. >> and then finally, i think it's going to be important for all of us to do some soul searching. there has been talk about, should we convene a conversation on race? i haven't seen that be particularly productive. when politicians try to organize conversations. they end up being stilted and politicized. folks are locked into is the positions they already have. on the other hand, in families

and churches and workplaces, there's a possibility that people are a little bit more honest at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am i wringing as much bias out of myself as i can? am i judging people as much as i can based on not the color of their skin but the content of their character? that would, i think, be an appropriate exercise in the wake of this tragedy. >> he's sort of saying there, no national conversation, almost more of an internal monologue. i think that may be a little more realistic way of trying to get people to think about this. again, though, i'm really curious, is this going to be another one of these things that just gets filtered through sort of the partisan message machine, the partisan noise machine, or is this going to be something that really does get people who haven't previously stopped and thought about it to stop and think about it? i'm curious. >> well, politically, this is

the president at his best. this reminded me of what he was like at newtown. very real, very personal. that entire speech was off the cuff. there were no notes. there was not a teleprompter. that was all directly from the president's heart. i think he was able to convey. i think that will stick with people that want to hear that message in america. there's a segment of the population that is going to tune him out, saying he's fanning the flames of race. i think there is a suburban voter in a swing state, she's going to perk up and listen to this. honestly, there was no risk in him doing this. there's no re-election coming up. he's not going to offend anybody. which is why i think that point must have come on him this week that he should say something. i have a lot of african-american friends in d.c. they were as you described, toure. glum. one said i have three sons, three grand kids. michael vick can go to jail for fighting dogs for two years and

george zimmerman walks. that affects me. i think the president was very wise to speak to that today. one thing that he also did today that shows the brilliance of the politician in him, he talked about a very serious issue, one that a lot of people are going to of a million opinions about and one that puts america in somewhat of a bad light. he ended on an optimistic note talking about his daughters. i want to play that. >> you know, when i talk to malia and sasha and i listen to their friends and i see them interact, they're better than we are. they're better than we were on these issues. that's true in every community i've visited across the country. >> and that is true. in personal context, they're better than we were. i think my generation is better than the generation before on race relations. i grew up in a time where seeing an african-american or many african-americans in my class was not an odd thing. it was considered to be that's

what america is. it's a great melting pot. yet, i still live in a city where i go out with my black friends, i have to hail a cab for them sometimes. so are we moving in it the right direction? i think the president put that optimistic tone on it, certainly. he also married that with the reality, which was an important thing to do and something that speaks not just to african-americans but to all americans. >> some really interesting and valuable thoughts all around the table. we're going to have more on this surprise and historic moment from the president this afternoon. we'll be right back with more. [ brent ] this guy's a pro, herbie.

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we need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and re-enforce our

african-american boys. and this is something michelle and i talk a lot about. there are a lot of kids out there who need help, who are getting a lot of negative re-enforceme re-enforcement. is there more that we can do to give them a sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them? >> we are back on what has truly been a historic day in barack obama's presidency. the president spoke quite personally about the not guilty verdict in the george zimmerman trial. joining us now is chief white house correspondent chuck todd, who was in the room. chuck, thanks for joining us. >> how you doing? >> doing well. i want to start picking up on some of the facts we have been reporting that you discussed and that the president highlighted

about the disparities in the criminal justice system at each point from profiling to arrest to the entire criminal justice process. that connecti ins with politicsn you look at felony voting. 13% of black men cannot vote at all because of felony convictions. how much of that subterranean level of this, the criminal justice system and its hidden hand in politics, is brought to the surface when the president chooses to address the country like he did today? >> that's an interesting story. i want to get to that in a second. there's a fascinating bipartisan possibility of seeing action on capitol hill on this very issue. i'll explain in a minute. i just want to give a little background about the president and when he decided and why he decided to do this. he was watching the conversation over the week and what aides are telling me is yesterday he went to his senior staff and said,

you know what, i want to say something on this. essentially, just asking them, you know, that it was the discussion was, what's the best venue to do it? they made the decision, the briefing room is the best venue. not an interview. not singling it out. more of a broader conversation. there is some historical context people need to remember about the president when he was making -- there's a great -- some great reporting back when he was making that final decision about whether to run or not. the different pros and cons. one of the potential legacies that he saw as a positive legacy was not about any piece of legislation but was on this issue of the excerpt that you just played, of simply by his election would mean being a role model for young african-american men, changing that aspect, being a positive role model for young african-american men in a way that has not been out there before, that was outside the

world of athletic, outside the world of entertainment. he saw that as much of a legacy -- forgetting passing anything, succeeding, but simply doing that would be able to set a marker, raise the bar in a way and change a conversation for young african-american men. so i think that was as much his motivation in realizing, you know, this may not have been the right politics to insert himself into this conversation given how polarizing the conversation's been, particularly in some places in the media spectrum. but given his own personal desires and what he believes the example he's setting as the first african-american male president, that it was his duty to speak out. as for your question, you know, this rising libertarian wing of the republican party, which in many ways there's always this hand ringing on certain issues, but rand paul of all people has been speaking out on this issue

about the issue of unfair incarceration rates, disparities between whites and blacks on this issue. >> yeah, he spoke about it at howard. >> that's right. he's indicated he's raised his hand that he's ready to be the republican cosponsor on tackling this issue, talking about decriminalizing some drug offenses or lowering some of these sentences. that -- i am curious to see, is this one of the directions we go? some people want to start a conversation about guns. some people want to start a conversation about affirmative action or the voting rights act. it will be interesting to see if others start that conversation. there might be some bipartisan support. is there consensus? is there a majority that would get you enough to get something like that passed? i don't know. but i think it's a conversation that more and more are ready to have. that is not just within the african-american community.

>> chuck, you did great reporting right there on why this moment came to be and how it was decided to do this moment. let's look forward to the potential response. i imagine a lot of black people are going to feel like me, very proud of the president stepping out as a black president and laying his feelings down. so acknowledging obviously great diversity among opinions and attitudes among white americans, but can you give us any of your perspective as a person who's been around for a long time what you think the response from a lot of white americans will be to this sort of mini speech? >> you know, i guess i'm an optimist in this respect. i think the conversation we're seeing take place in certain corners of cable television or certain parts of social media is not the majority anymore. and it's not even the quote/unquote silent majority that we've talked about. that's not to say this isn't out there. that's not to say i thought you

guys were having a very elegant discussion about it's been incremental progress on the issue of race over the years and each generation it's getting better, not to say anything has been wiped away, but each generation there's been improvement. the stereotypes, right now maybe they're buried, but they're not gone with some people. the next generation, maybe they end up becoming gone. it's like watching a genetic evolution where over time that stuff disappears. i don't think this is going to be the -- i don't think it's good -- put it this way. for it to become a divisive political discussion that somehow pits a majority of white america versus a majority of black/brown america, you would have to have a republican party leadership that would want to stoke that fire, and i don't see

it. you will not see the leadership of one party wanting to do that. you may see small elements of -- that maybe side with the conservative movement try to have -- spark those conversations and claim there's race baiting going on, all this. i don't think that's going to be the majority of opinion of mainstream republican politics. i just don't. >> chuck, your d.c. colleague luke here. one thing that stuck out to me listening to this speech is the role of michelle obama. i'm curious as to whether you've gotten any heads up on what type of role she may have played in the president giving this speech. are we going to find out about that in one of those tell-all books that comes out in the next 9 to 12 months? but how much of a role do you think she had in this? >> everything i've done over the years in reporting and sort of the role she plays as an adviser with the president, it's never in its official can pass pacitc. she never lets her opinion go

unspoken with him. she doesn't dabble. she doesn't get involved in the senior affairs. she's not inserting herself into the west wing. i don't want to sit here and say i know for sure this. i would be shocked if this wasn't a conversation the two of them were having and that they weren't discussing what is the best way to have this discussion and then the president going to his aides. i'm with you, luke. i think we'll find that out in a couple of years, not in a couple days or months. >> that'll be interesting. we know that eric holder and michelle obama at various points have spoken out rather eloquently on these issues. presumably, there was some contact there. chuck todd, thanks for your reporting today. >> you got it, guys. >> now up next, how the president's remarks will be covered for the days to come. please stay with us. ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker every day. ♪

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we have to be vigilant, and we have to work on these issues. and those of us in authority should be doing everything we

can to encourage the better angels of our nature as opposed to using these episodes to heighten divisions. but we should also have confidence that kids these days, i think, have more sense than we did back then and certainly more than our parents did or our grandparents did and that along this long and difficult journey, you know, we're becoming a more perfect union. not a perfect union, but a more perfect union. all right? thank you, guys. >> needless to say, the washington media wasn't expecting all this on a summer friday. our friend jonathan capehart from "the washington post" was inform the room for the president's remarks.

jonathan, i'll start with you. i mentioned this earlier. this column from your colleague at "the washington post" jeanne robinson this morning, the timing of this is interesting in light of what happened this afternoon. the headline on his column was "obama is the wrong person to lead a discussion about race." i mentioned this earlier. one of the lines is, the unfortunate fact is that obama's aim is to promote dialogue about race, speaking his monday is demon st demonstrably counterproductive. just wondering what your take is. >> well, i'm hoping history will prove gene wrong. it was incredibly powerful to be there in the room when the president gave these remarks. his coming into the room was a surprise, but i think what he had to say was even more surprising. the press core always pays attention when the president speaks. this time, no one moved.

everyone hung on every word. i'll speak for myself personally, because i've written a lot about the trayvon martin, george zimmerman case. i've written a lot since the verdict. like toure, i shared the same sort of depression. to listen to the president of the united states speak to the pain, the real pain that's out there within the african-american community about a young boy who was not related to them, a family not related to them, but we all share the same experiences that unfortunately led to trayvon's death. and it made all of us -- again, speaking for myself personally, it sort of made me feel less safe, made me feel less comfortable in my own neighborhood and in my own skin. to have the president of the united states who's also african-american speak from the bully pulpit of the podium in the white house briefing room,

to speak to my pain and to the pain of an entire community was unbelievably powerful. >> kerry, i wanted to ask you a question. you've covered this white house extensively. obviously the president has a mixed record when it comes to his legislative accomplishments. what struck me is when there's big, important moments during the tenure of his presidency, whether it be gabby giffords, osama bin laden, newtown, he always rises to the moment and seems to find that perfect tone, that perfect amount of eloquence that connects with folks. did he do that here today, and is that really so far the legacy he's leaving behind? that on complicated issues and matters, he was that sort of voice of reason in america. >> i mean, his speech today did come as a surprise to some aides who, you know, were really wondering when he was going to speak out. they had been planning on having him address it tuesday when he talked to spanish language

media. you know, aides knowing how sort of really good he is in those moments were wondering why he had taken so long. the verdict was saturday night. it was all week. i think they believed they were looking to, you know, wait to see what the reaction was publicly before he sort of weighed in in that way. really, what came friday, today, was sort of a far more personal statement than i think we would have seen tuesday if he had answered questions while he was asked in a round robin of interviews tuesday. so i think even to some folks, you know, who were in the white house, it was received well. they were, you know, pretty ecstatic in terms of the personal nature in which he addressed it. they'd been looking for that for quite a few days. i think the question now, what does he do about this going forward? it's never really been the president's thing to engage in these issues for an extended period of time. you know, he sort of put down the idea of a national conversation.

that's not really his thing, to have this bill clinton style summit on one big issue. so i think, you know, the next question is what does he do from here? >> that is a key point. jonathan, i want to make a legal comment and ask you a political question. the legal backdrop for this as many of us have discussed for some time is the dismantling of a lot of civil rights protections from conservative judges and an overincarceration throughout the united states. since 1970 our prison population has risen by 700%, far outstripping our actual population growth. we have mandatory minimums laws. we have incredible overincarceration under the drug laws. black americans are 21% more likely to get mandatory minimums for the exact same crimes. we have felony disenfranchisement that fits in with that as we were discussing on the program today. we have a supreme court that just struck down the laws literally put on the laws by martin luther king in the civil rights movement. we have all of this bad news for many of us who care about civil

rights protections and equality under the law. now we have a president speaking out on this, and he's saying on the one hand, it's hard to change these laws. on the other hand, he will not sit idly by while the country fractures over race looking at a single case which we've said is not necessarily representative but clearly attracts a lot of attention. so tell us, jonathan, politically in the town where you're sitting, where people are digesting what the president said, which one, if any, of those kinds of systemic reforms do you think gets any action after today? >> well, i think what we have to look for is what attorney general holder does, what the administration does in terms of things that they can do on their own that doesn't require congress. that can ameliorate some of these issues. it might not touch on some of the things you just mentioned, but there are a myriad of things that could possibly be done by the administration administratively to ameliorate

the inequities that face african-americans. on a larger point, i just want to make it clear that what the president did was very personal and powerful for me as an african-american, i have to tell you that as an american what the president did was vitally, vitally important. his message isn't just for me, isn't just for us as african-americans. it's for all of us as americans. if we fracture over the issue of race, it's not -- it's not going to be because african-americans are upset or frustrated. it's because all americans haven't been able to come together to try to figure out how to do something about this problem that's pulling us apart. i mean, the president said at the end of the clip you just showed that, you know, we do things to make ourselves a more perfect union. not perfect, but more perfect. that's something that cannot and will not and should not be done by african-americans alone. >> all right. jonathan capehart, kerry, thanks for joining us. up next, two of our colleagues

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you know, there has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race? i haven't seen that be particularly productive when, you know, politicians try to organize conversations. they end up being stilted and politicized and folks are locked into the positions they already have. on the other hand, in families and churches and workplaces, there's a possibility that people are a little more honest and at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am i wringing as much bias out of myself as i can? >> right there president obama opening up a national conversation about race during

that surprise appearance in the briefing room this afternoon. joining us now are msnbc's melissa harris-perry and karen finney. welcome to you both. karen, i'll start out with you. in terms of who the president was speaking to, obviously it was the country, but in terms of -- obviously you've worked in politics. you've worked with the nitty-gritty. how do his words go into action now? how are they taken forward and put into action to make this become a more perfect union? is there a political way to do that? >> i don't know so much of a political way. the president also talked about, i mean, he has some opportunity as a convener. the opportunity to bring people together to try to talk about ideas in a way that is not so politicized, that is not so kind of showy for the cameras. i think that's what they're going to work on, is how can convene groups of people to come up with ideas? i just want to say, you know, those remarks took me back to grant park where white, black,

brown, you name it, old, young, you know, we were one country. the president's remarks talking about an american experience in a way that validated, i think for a lot of us, what our experience is. that in and of itself is critically important for this country. >> karen, they were remarks coming from such an obviously personal place for him too. we talked earlier about how there's been a reluctance by president obama, for understandable reasons, to address race head on. we also talked about how he's now a second-term president whose name will never appear on any ballot anywhere ever again. do you think this might be the start of more moments like this for the rest of his presidency? >> i certainly hope so. we often talk in politics about how in the second term there's a little bit more, you know, sort of freedom. at the same time, i mean, if you look at the things -- you guys were just talking about it with the voting rights act, womens right, things happening around the country that are already polarizing the country, i think

it was a risky thing for the president to do, second term or not. again, we know that from the right he's already being criticized. he hadn't even finished talking and the critics were out and so forth. again, i think it's so important, though, that he was willing to take that political risk. i think that's part of what makes this so remarkable. that and fact that i think it was brilliant that it was not a planned speech. imagine if we'd had to have a roll out where there were excerpts released and that whole formal process. part of what made this so powerful was that he just showed up in the briefing room, right, and just spoke from the heart. >> melissa harris-perry, i think karen is obviously right, that there is some political risk in doing this, but i think there would be a greater spiritual risk in not doing it and having the opportunity to speak out in that way and remaining silent. you know t as we've spoken before, i felt like we had a president who is black, who when we're talking about the greatest problems we're facing,

unemployment, mass incarceration because of the war on drugs, justice system disparities up and down the chain, the president has not done anything. he's been silent on those issues. today i felt we have a black president. >> okay. so i would reject two aspects of how you set that up, though. the first is i'm always reluctant to agree sort of wholeheartedly with the this president hasn't addressed race during his terms. mostly because i wonder what the comparative point is. like, do we mean compared to other presidents or do we mean compared to other folks who we have understood to be in leadership positions of civil rights within african-american communities? i think that if we just looked at it sort of word for word, speech for speech, this president has done more to put at the center of his narrative the black american experience. if we go back to that grand park speech that karen's talking about, part of what was so lovely about that moment is he ends it with this conversation about a woman named ann nixon cooper who was more than 100

years old. he walks us through the whole sweep of a century of american history through the eyes of a black woman. what president ever did anything like that? as we go forward in history, i think we might reassess that notion. i also want to be careful that the notion that one would be sort of talking about race at a litmus test for blackness. he was a black president even if he never talked about race. you don't get to kick people in and out of the community. all of that said, what he is able to do in this moment, and you bring this up with the notion of the spiritual, i at least experienced -- and i could be reading this wrong. but i at least experienced a real sense of authenticity emerging from this president. that authenticity was in part about his lack of complete asewered isness about it. he didn't give a speech where he laid out kind of a five-point plan. instead, you had this sense of groping, of searching. certainly, i think for those who want to both -- to find of knit together that double consciousness of being black and american, it is a searching.

it is a groping. there isn't any sort of formula or simple set of answers. >> the other point wanted to raise with you, melissa, is we saw the president speak about this case without really mentioning george zimmerman or his perspective at all. although, he was acquitted, obviously. what do you make of that? >> well, again, this is part of how people have often understood this president. of course, writing that president obama was the bridge and presumably that is the bridge between the races. he has often been very careful whenever he's talking about, for example, black emotions or emotions within african-american communities to also talk about white resentment and that sort of thing. but in this case, he simply gave us the world view of trayvon martin and the parents of trayvon martin. he allowed himself to be fully within that moment and instead of trying to say everybody's got a point here, he said, listen, i need everybody to listen because when you don't listen to us talk

about the experiences that we have, it hurts us and it betrays the fabric of this nation. you must listen to this side of the story. and it was -- it was extraordinary and actually pretty un-president obama like. he nosrmally tells you both sids of the story. this time he just gave us the story of trayvon martin. >> melissa harris-perry and karen finney, thank you for joining us. i'm sure we'll hear more from you on this topic on your shows over the weekend. we'll be back with closing arguments from the one and only toure. to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function

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since stand your ground loss were enacted in 2005, justified homicides in stand your ground states has jumped 200%. since stand your ground loss were enacted, background checks have skyrocketed. there were 16 million until 2011. since stand your grounds laws were enacted when the shooter and victim are white, 11% of the shootings are ruled is justified. when the shooter is white and the victim is black, and the percentage of shootings justified jumps to 34%. when the shooter is black and the victim is white, it's just 3%. i doubt stand your ground laws were enacted with racist intent. the nra lawyers is oversaw the new jury instructions that led to inserting stand your grounds into every jury instruction. that meant shooters have no duty to retreat even if the danger is not real.

that has meant stand your ground is a part of justifying far more killings of black people. and that has the administration very concerned. >> time to question loss that expand the concept of self-defense and so dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods. we must stand our ground to ensure our laws reduce violence and take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent. >> and for those who, who, resist that idea that we should think about something like these 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.

and if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, is then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kind of laws. >> i understand the american nature of stand your ground. the way it's meant to allow us to be independent and not rely on government and to protect ourselves. but i also understand it's part of a marketing effort. it's about letting people feel comfortable when they use their guns and thus feel comfortable buying guns and that has worked. but has the vigilanteism it has inspired led to a better america? have the racial disparities that led to the justification of killing so many blacks led to a better america? has the fear of black men given a tool that will facilitates our killing are more guns in more placed used with more impunity, making us a better nationing? that does it for "the cycle." the martin bashir show" is next.

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good afternoon. it's friday, july 19th. a historic moment at the white house as the president reflects upon the life and the death of trayvon martin. >> once the jury's spoken, that's how our system works but i did want to talk a little bit about context. trayvon martin could have been me 35 years ago. the african-american community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences. folks understand the challenges that exist for african-american boys. but they get frustrated i think

if they feel there's no context for it. it's going to be important for all of us to do some soul searching. i don't want us to lose sight that thing are getting better. we're becoming a more perfect union. not a perfect union. but a more perfect union. ♪ makes you want to holler, throw up both my hands ♪ ♪ it make me want to holler throw up both my hands ♪ >> it was unexpected. he took all of us by surprise but nearly a week after a verdict that royaled the nation and highlighted racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the president this afternoon offered his first response to the acquittal of george zimmerman. with precious little warning, the president arrived in the white house briefing room delivering a statement that will vet quickly became deeply personal. >> when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way of