on this friday, we reamed you that you can follow this show on twitter at bashir live and indeed on our twitter feed today, you'll find an item introducing you to some members of our staff, my great friends and colleagues and inviting to you follow their twitter accounts. follow friday. "hardball" is next. >> the president, the zimmerman trial and race. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. what we saw at the white house today was something many people have been waiting for, president obama speaking out clearly forcefully and emotionally about the trayvon martin case. it was the president addressing race in a way that only he, uniquely among american presidents, could giving his first on-camera comments about a story that has sparked a

national dialogue the last week. he said the country needed to do some soul searching and he spoke about the case in starkly personal terms. >> you know, when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way of saying that is, ray von martin could have been me 35 years ago. and when you think about why in the african-american community at least there's a lot of pain around what happened here, i think it's important to recognize that the african-american community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences. and a history. that doesn't go away. >> nbc news reports that the

president decided yesterday afternoon to address this weighty topic after talking with friends and family. he called together a few members of his senior staff and told them he wanted to make comments. we're going to spend the next hour talking about what the president said this afternoon and what it means going forward. to start with, i'm joined by the grio's joy reid, the washington post's jonathan capehart and mother jones magazine's david corn, all three are msnbc political analysts. in addressing what happened to trayvon martin, the president related his own experiences as an african-american man. >> 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 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. >> jonathan, i heard the president say that he respects the process, that he respects the rule of law, but that this is the context in which african-americans are interpreting the verdict and everybody needs to appreciate that fact. >> yes, absolutely. and that's what -- that's the power of what the president did and said today for me and for me personally. i think the american people need to hear that. i think sometimes we can talk about race in abstractions

because no one of any big power can say this has happened to me. and when the president of the united states can say that he's been followed in stores and that he has heard people click the locks on their doors, when he crosses the street, comes near their cars it suddenly makes it real. it's no longer something that oh, jonathan capehart or eugene robinson or reverend sharpton or toure or any of the other folks, our audience knows it's not just him, the leader of the free world has this personal experience and that he's sharing in the pain, in the frustration and in my case, the aggravation that these things happen. and folks don't seem to quite understand why it irritates and frustrates and depresses african-americans so much. >> you know, joy, there are so many aspects of this i find fascinating and worthy of conversation. not the least of which is that

the president essentially set the table for a conversation about race. but at the end of the speech, he was very clear in saying he really didn't have much faith in the ability of politicians to conduct that conversation and instead, suggested that we do it in our families and in our workplaces and in our churches. >> yeah, i mean, think this would have been a lot less effective as a formalized speech if he had gone in the oval office. >> why wille? >> that inherently closes certain ears. this is a country in which this is the first president of the united states ever to be told to show his birth certificate. the first president of the united states ever to be called a liar from the well of the house of representatives to his face. this is a president who when he talked about his friend being wrongfully arrested for breaking into his own house, recall what the situation was. this was an august professor of history at harvard university being corralled and drag good afternooned by local police officers for supposedly trying to break into a house that was

his own home. this is the ef context in by obama has been operating. race is drizzled all over everything he says and does. >> was it acknowledgement of sorts on his part he doesn't recognize his own ability to be able to lead that dialogue? he can only bring us so far. >> he can only talk about his experiences. unfortunately, there is a part of this country on the right which is so closed to anything that comes out of the mouth of barack obama, anything he touches, he can't talk about an issue or else it becomes toxic. there are people who are so hateful toward him that he really couldn't join hands and have everyone make this dialogue about race. >> we have a good example of that. a little bit later in the program. president obama said that it was time for americans to look inward and do some soul searching. >> and then finally, i think it's going to be important for all of us to do some soul searching. you know, there have 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 and folks are locked into the positions they already have. on the other happened, and families and churches and workplaces, there's the possibility that premium a little bit more honest and 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. >> david corn, interpret that

methodical reasonable presentation that was informal at the same time. i think that joy makes an interesting observation in saying she thinks it's probably more effective than had he been behind the desk in the oval office. >> well, he's done it both ways. if you go back, which i did and look again at the speech he gave on race in 2008 which was much more formalized he made some of the points. in a lot of ways, i look at barack obama as, you know, as trying to be white america's guide to the black american experience. and that's a pretty hard task for anybody let alone the president of the united states has other things on his plate. you used one of the key words, michael earlier on. context. the president came back to that again and this is what the 2008 speech was about, as well. that you know, particularly he wants white americans to understand the context in which african-americans view some of these issues and how the anger on each side, racial anger on

each side sort of exists within a context, particularly if you deny that for african-americans and i think jonathan got to this. you get to the -- to frustration and you don't really give people their due. people have experienced what the president has experienced. and i was just still aghast at the end of the trial regardless of what the outcome was in terms of whether it was right or wrong legally how people on the right, people are antagonistic to barack obama were out there celebrating this trial as if it was nothing but a political campaign and wasn't ultimately and above all a tragedy, but yet right away became political fodder. i think the president at the end somewhat justified in saying no matter how good he is in presenting some of these sophisticated and nuanced points, there are people hole are not going to want to listen. >> here another important aspect of his remarks. listen to how he spoke about violence within the african-american community and the need to look at the historical context.

>> now, this isn't to say that the african-american community is naive about the fact that african-american young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system. that they're disproportionally 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 the this country. and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. >> jonathan capehart, i thought that was the president addressing a subject that one of your colleagues, mr. cohen

addressed when he got into some of that crime data a couple of days ago and there's huge blow back to it. this was the president saying look, african-american men are largely the victims and largely the perpetrator but you've got to the put that in a historical context to appreciate and understand it. >> yeah. yes. i think the president was directly addressing richard cohen's column but also if you look at my inbox and i haven't talked to joy about this but i'm sure her inbox is if i had with people from the right crowing about why are we paying so much attention to this one case when there's all this black on black crime out there that we're not paying attention to. and this is the president's way of pushing back and saying, look, it's not like we don't know this is happening. it's not like we don't know that this is an issue. but you have to understand that what happened to trayvon martin and what's happening to african-american men in general and young african-american men in particular is happening not in a vacuum but in the midst of

a whole lot of other things that are happening that the country as a whole has to come to grips with and face if we're going to solve any of these problems. >> there's plenty more forever all of us to discuss. please our panelists sticking around. we'll get reaction from both sides of the political spectrum. this is "hardball" the place for politics. >> 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 difficult journey, we're becoming a more perfect union. not a perfect union. the pursuit of a better life for our children is something we all share. but who can help prepare them for the opportunities ahead?

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according to gallop polling he may be right at least in one key way. gallup found that african-americans are a lot less likely to cite discrimination to the fact that blacks generally have worse jobs, income and housing than whites. 37% of african-americans say discrimination is the main reason for that, while 60% of african-americans say it's mostly due to something else. 20 years ago, those numbers were a lot closer together. polling from 1993 found 44% cited discrimination versus 48% who said something else. we'll be right back.

and for those who -- who resist that idea that we should think about something like the stand your ground laws, i'd 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, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds you have laws. >> welcome back to "hardball." the scene of president obama's surprise comments on race was casual, informal, a sharp contrast with the gravity, the magnitude, the importance of the words themselves which could well mark a defining cultural moment for his political legacy. the question is why did the president choose to get in front of this very complex topic then and there and what will it mean for the future of politics not only for him but for both parties. not surprisingly the reaction from some conservatives has already been critical can todd starnes a conservative rao host with foxnous saying "president obama is now our race baitner chief. his remarks on the trayvon

martin tragedy are beyond reprehensible." eugene robinson wrote a column yesterday entitled obama is the wrong person to lead the discussion about race where he says "we should talk honestly about unresolved racial issues such as those exposed by the case, but president obama is not the best person to lead the discussion through no fault of his own, he might be the worst. the record indicates that the honest talk from obama about race is scene by many people as threatening. we're rejoined now by our panel along with republican strategist john feehery. john, if your phone rang with a call this afternoon by a gop operative somebody running for office or in office and they say, how should i as a republican respond to what we just heard from president obama, your advice would have been what? >> very carefully. listen, i think that it was important for the president to step up and talk about this. i think that this has been a festering wound. i wish the president would have

put it in broader context talked a little bit about the role of the media, talked a little bit about the role of the media in fostering fear, in all kinds of different ways. i think the president hit on some things exactly right. i think in many ways when he talked about george zimmerman, i thought he was off base. from the republican standpoint, what you're trying to do is trying to grow your base. so you don't really want to get involved too deeply in a tit-for-tat kind of explosive discussion on this. i don't think you want to play to your base. you want to grow your base. so for republican consultant, what i would say, tread on this carefully. >> joy it seems already the statement that's being seized upon by opponents of the president is the comment where he questions the outcome had the race been different of trayvon martin. that was predictable. >> i probably laugh a little bit because i don't see any context in which republicans are trying to grow their base in any policy matter. >> i don't think that's right. >> really? on immigration their base is

saying hell no and double hell no. >> i think a lot of republicans are trying to grow their base. >> on then issue what i've heard the vitriol towards ray von martin and george zimmerman is almost a folk hero on the far right. i haven't seen any responsible voices in the party saying that's a bad idea and not sympathy for the family. what i've heard and seen in my twitter where i've been called the "n" word every 30 seconds since the verdict came down, i don't see a moderating influence in your party right now saying we need to stop constantly overdoing our attacks on barack obama because it's turning people off. and i'm just telling you right now, it's turning people off. >> joy, the question to me by michael was what would i advise a politician. >> it's great advice. i don't know that they're listening to smart people like you. >> that's the advice i would have said. i do think that this particular george zimmerman trial has been overly played by the media and overly played by some people in

a way that has been very dets destructive to the country. i think if you look at the trial and you look at the facts, there was no way that the jury could have reached any other conclusion. >> sure there was. if they had -- you know what? sure there was, john. if they had decided that they could see trayvon martin as a child and as a victim and if that cultural gap could have been bridged of course they very have found -- if they couldn't, then it didn't happen. >> the scars on george zimmerman's back of his head. the jury looked at -- i see your point. >> you're proving my point. >> i don't want to relitigate the facts of the case. i want to talk about race. jonathan capehart, is the president the appropriate individual to advance this conversation, or because he himself has become for better or worse such a lightning rod, he can't properly lead this dialogue? >> look, the president of the

united states is the perfect person to, as i say in a piece just out now, to jump start this conversation. we always have this conversation after after some racial conflagration and think this is the moment when we have the national conversation where we will move forward and what ends up happening, there's a flurry for a week or a few days and then we go about our business till the next time. i think because the president felt personally he had to say something about it that it was something that he could just feel after talking to friends and staff and family that it was something he needed to talk about, that he went out and did it. the thing that he did was what janet langhart cohen called on him to do in an op-ed in the "washington post" on wednesday where she asked account president to talk about race and racism. not just to black americans but to all americans because it is an issue that is facing the country. it is an issue that is tearing the country apart. and whether the president is black or not, the president of

the united states is someone who should address these issues, and the fact that the president now is an african-american makes that even more powerful. unfortunately, gene wrote that column. i would love to hear what gene has to say now that the speech is over. >> michael. >> real quick comment. >> but we need to get past this conversation. and that's what the president tried to point to in terms of what to do about policies. we can have conversations till we're literally wblue in the fae and not change people's mind set. when you talk about the policy elements, drug laws, death penalty, doing something on stand your ground laws, those are the things we need to move on so this doesn't just stay in the region of abtraction and we can try to have some policy and political fights over this. >> david, i'm glad you brought it up. thank you, joy reid. thank you jonathan capehart, david corn and john feehery.

up next, the president's statement took us all by surprise. we'll go to the white house for the details how it came about. you can listen to my rao program weekday mornings at 9:00 a.m. eastern on poe dus channel 124. this is "hardball," the place for politics. and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations, we invest more in the u.s. than any other place in the world. in fact, we've invested over $55 billion here in the last five years - making bp america's largest energy investor. our commitment has never been stronger. we replaced people with a machine.r, what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?!

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we need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and reinforce our african-american boys. and this is something that 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 reinforcement. and 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? >> welcome back to "hardball."

it's been nearly a week since the george zimmerman verdict. what motivated the president to speak so personally now about ris and his own experience as a black man in america six days after the verdict? for that i turn to two white house reporters peter alexander and april ryan of the urban rao network. peter, i was watching andrea mitchell. they broke out of her program and go into the pr esroom. it looked to me like the president was joking with you as he got to the podium. and then delivered this very serious set of remarks. paint the picture from your perspective. >> well, we were sitting back in our small offices in white house. we got no warning that this would take place. we usually get some warning even if off the record. there was a two-minute warning that the briefing would begin. i got word the president was out there so i made the sprint up front, that shot of my backside i apologize if you saw it, and i said to the president, mr. president, that was only.90 seconds. that wasn't two minutes. he smiled before beginning his remarks to the group as we talk

about this day, i think what's so striking is that he encouraged america to do some soul searching on this topic. i think it's obvious now that the president himself over the course of the last six days and his presidency has done his own soul searching, as well. >> april i'm caught up in the fact there couldn't be a more serious subject matter going on in the country right now. there was no teleprompter. it didn't look like he was referring to notes and yet speaking in full paragraphs on a matter of the utmost importance. speak to me about the style as you interpreted it. >> as i interpreted from being in the room and from white house sources, this was a heart and soul matter. this was a personal conversation he wanted to have. we didn't see this president that stands before the podium thus thou, where art. we saw a somer barack obama talk about trayvon martin, talk about the issues of black america which we never heard before, things that have happened to him we never heard him say before.

we heard him talk about the way forward. this president stepped into the conversation. and wanted to start the conversation even though he said, we will not have this public conversation emanating from the white house but said we're going to have this conversation and he became really the moral leader in chief at this point. >> here's what i was referring to, president obama shocked the press corps when is he showed.with press secretary jay carney. this was how he greeted the group of surprised reporters. >> nobody showed up. oh. >> how you doing? >> that's so disappointing, man. >> what are you doing here? >> jay, is this the kind of respect you get? on television it usually looks like you're addressing a full room. >> just a mirage. >> all right. >> that was the 90 secs. >> piling on the detroit story. >> i got you. all right. sorry about that. do you think anybody else is showing up? >> well, they did show up.

these two showed up. peter, maybe it's because there have been other efforts made to start the conversation about race and unfortunately, they haven't advanced us as far as we would like to go. so the president took this out of the box approach of being far more informal and casual and much more personal than anyone could have been in the past. >> yeah, i think that's exactly right. this started with a conversation we're told by white house advisors of the president that the president had had with members of his own family and friends over the course of the last several days that have passed since the verdict in the trial. the decision we're told was made late yesterday, late thursday where he gathered some advisors, brought them together and said he wanted to make public remarks and made it clear he wanted the remarks to be extemporaneous to be speaking from the heart and for a man criticized i think so often for speaking off of teleprompter where there's not that window into who he is, the fact that he used words like i and me to personalize the pain and the angst and anguish that's felt within the african-american

community acknowledging his own experiences being followed around when he's in a department store i think really struck people. >> there were no speechwriters. not only that, the white house i think really we saw something that the white house really welcomed because earlier this week, there hrp four hispanic journalist who's had exclusive interviews with the president, and the white house was waiting for the question. and none of the reporters asked. >> strange. >> so well, i'm not going to say strange. maybe that was strategic for them. i don't know, but for the white house, this was great because the president was able to have his own narrative on this. create and give the story the way he wanted without having questions or interruptions. so for the white house, this was a perfect moment to say what the president wanted to say on the zimmerman verdict. >> thank you for painting the backdrop for us. peter alexander, april ryan, coming up next, a simple question without an easy answer. where do we go from here? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

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i know that eric holder is reviewing what happened down there, but 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 is traditionally done at the state and local levels, not at the federal levels. that doesn't mean though that as a nation, that we can't do some things that i think would be productive. >> welcome back to "hardball." with the dust barely settled on obama's surprise speech about race in america, the question now turns to, where do we go from here? as you heard there, the president said there are some things we can do, although he was quick to clarify that there's no five-point plan from the administration on race. but here's what he did outline as possible paths forward. they include the possibility that states consider racial profiling legislation, that they examine state and local laws like stand your ground. he laid out the challenge that we need to find better ways to bolster and reinforce the young black community and finally, lots of soul searching as a nation. was his speech the stuff that creates a movement for real

change? was it meant to? and where do we go from here? i'm joined by formpler congressman by the president of the naacp. cherilyn eiffel the president of the legal defense and education fund and msnbc political analyst ron reagan. congressman, what now? >> well, i think what now is we take the conversation beyond thenous rooms into communities, into churches and synagogues around the dinner table, in neighborhood associations, everywhere people want to discuss this. to be able to talk about something, quite frankly, we should have talked about long ago. we keep getting to these pivotal points. i know there are a lot of people who think there's been too much discussion on in. let me say this, for a race of people hole have suffered, endured and survived three centuries of slavery, oppression, deprivation, deg gradation, denial and dysprivilege, they see this through a lens oftentimes filtered by disparities in sentencing, in the criminal

justice system, by disparities in education. and so the effort here from most of those people, myself included is to have the larger discussion and to take what the president has done and to finally build on it. >> chair ril lynn if there was a nutshell within the trial as to the terms of how people interpret things differently, it would have been rachel jeantel's testimony. i remember how there was such a dramatic difference between whether they found her credible and her testimony to be compelling. so i guess we're trying to move beyond that and understand one another's experience. >> yeah, i think you heard so many people sonding to how she spoke. you heard juror 37 talk about whether she thought miss jeantel was educated rather than listening to what she was saying and conveying. for many of us looking at her, she was a teenager. we were not put off by her communication style at all. and this is precisely the

problem that happened on that fateful night when george zimmerman did not see trayvon martin as a child. we saw that again with the jury where they weren't thinking about him as a child frightened because somebody was stalking him. whatever was the bravery of the words that he might have said, he was a teenager who thought he was in peril. and the inability to see trayvon martin as a child and you've heard his mom talk about this, they didn't see him as a child speaks to the way in which we allow race to cover our sense of who we are in our interactions with each other. >> you know, the juror to whom you make reference who has done the interviews expressly said race wasn't a factor in the determination. when the president today at the white house questions whether the outcome would have been different had the race of martin been different, he's coming to a different conclusion. >> he is being honest. here's what's really important. the juror's able to say that in large part because race was excluded, the explicit discussion of race was excluded

from the presentation of the evidence in this case. the judge remember said you cannot say racial profiling. you can say profiling. exactly. so when you exclude race but it's there,ing right, it allows juror 37 to say race is not a part of it, but it is a part of it. when a young african-american man is killed under those circumstances we know race is a part of it. part of what we have to do is we have to equip that judge, we have to equip the prosecutors to be able to present evidence about race, no the to prejudice the jury but allow the jury to manage this critically important issue, to manage how they might react to it, as well and to recognize it's important in the interaction that happened that night. >> ron, was there anything you wanted the president to say today that as you listened to his remarks you didn't get from him? >> ono, i don't think so. i think the president was right on point. he said very important things when he talked about how he could have been trayvon martin 35 years ago, and repeated that

if trayvon martin could have been his son. it's very important i think, michael for those of us in the white community, you and me, for instance, to recognize that we couldn't be trayvon martin. our sons could not be trayvon martin. you, i don't know full have a son or not. i don't. if you do. >> three. >> i'm sure you've never lost a moment's sleep wondering whether somebody was going to assume that your kids were criminals, track them down with a gun, shoot them dead and then get away with it and have the police barely investigate this at the beginning. that is not something is that white parents generally live with, but black parents as we are hearing now do every day. >> hey, congressman. >> something white people have to come to grips with. >> let me pursue something ron raises. i feel this in my own home. we have four children and three of them are boys. the president said you know, the kids they're better. he talked about his daughters and said they're better than we

were. do you have that kind of faith? i mean within a generation or two, are we going to be in a much better place? when you speak in the context of 3,000 years, you know, by that math those generational changes haven't gotten us where we need to be. >> well, 300 years, and i do feel the same way. >> pardon me, 300. >> my youngest son is 23 years of age. i've got six boyce. every parent has at least particularly in the black community and i appreciate mr. reagan's comments on this, you develop this fear that something is going to happen to your child because of the way they look. first and then secondly, because of where they may be or what they may be doing. so this generation today really they -- they're going to make things much better than we ever did. i think our generation dropped the ball in many respects. they want the dialogue, whether they're white, hispanic, latino, black, they want the discussion. we should never stifle it because it's out of that discussion that we're going to form action. i applaud the president.

i think he spoke clearly from his heart today both as an american and as an african-american. and i think more than anything else, it gives us a great opportunity now to broaden the conversationing to export it into communities and other places and to involve young people in the decisions because persons my age and older are not going to figure this out. it's going to be the next generation and they want desperately to move beyond this situation because of trayvon martin crime and the trayvon martin tragedy has hurt every one of them. >> here's the president's comments on how younger generations are better. >> i don't want us to lose sight that thing are getting better. each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. doesn't mean we're in a post racial society. it doesn't mean that racism is eliminated. but 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. and that's true in every community that i've visited all across the country. >> cheri lynn, that resonated with me. when i present cases oftentimes you know i'm speaking to three sons who is are 12, 15 and 17 who just don't get the kind of divide that surrounds so many of the issues. >> you know, that was very powerful. and the president did a great job today of really personalizing it for all of us because our kids are better. the reality is. >> i agree with that. >> they are having communications in ways and at younger ages than we ever did across race. and so they're growing up with greater facility to do the kind cuff conversation that is very often hard for us to do. what the president did today was he took responsibility for helping the nation having this

conversation. we keep waiting for this big conversation on race. i gotnous for you, we're having it. we have it every time one of these situations happens. he did a great job. >> he made it clear we need to be self-starters in this regard in our homes, workplaces and churches and not look to politicians to do all the work for us. that's true. >> it's one of the best things he said because the idea of this national conversation on race as though we're going to rent out the convention center and have this giant conversation, it's what you do in your family, your church and school. he was right on target. >> i agree with that. stay where you are please. they're sticking around. this is "hardball," the place for politics. he's an actor who's known for his voice. but his accident took that away. thankfully, he's got aflac. they're gonna give him cash to help pay his bills so he can just focus on getting better. we're taking it one day at a time. one day at a time. [ male announcer ] see how the duck's lessons are going at aflac.com

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after president obama spoke, trayvon martin's parents put out a statement and said in part, we're deeply honored and moved that president obama took the time to speak publicly and at length about our son trayvon. his comments give us great strength at this time. we are thankful for president obama's and michelle's prayers and ask for your prayers, as well as we continue to move forward. president obama sees himself in trayvon and identifies with him. this is a beautiful tribute to our boy. trayvon's life was cut short but we hope that his legacy will make our communities a better place for generations to come. we applaud the president's call to action to bring communities together to encourage an open and difficult dialogue." we'll be back after this.

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biotene -- for people who suffer from dry mouth. welcome back to "hardball." we're back with kweisi mfume, scherr lynn ifel. >> i think this was an important moment. the president weighted into a moment that was already happening. this has been gripping the country for the last week. he recognized that he needed to be a leader, and this is what leaders do. and by talking in this way, by talking off the cuff without prepared remarks, you have to talk about it. >> however, with real feeling. his willingness to put his personal experience on the line i think was tremendously healing to the martin family. i think that's what we heard in that statement. but also to african-americans who are really struggling with their own families about what we tell our sons and our nephews

and our brothers about what they do when they go out on the street and face this kind of circumstance. it's the beginning of a conversation. he was right to tamp downtown on expectations of what might come out of the federal investigation, but at least tried to point news the direction of real action, you make a good point. shame on those of us who don't use this as a conversation starter at home. ronald reagan, your takeaway thoughts. >> well, i thought the important thing -- one of the important things was this generational point that you were addressing just a few moments ago, and this has to do with ignorance. yes, the kids today are less ignorant than we were. and when you defeat ignorance, you defeat bigotry. when ignorance goes into the ash heap, bigotry follows. that's the important thing we have to keep in mind, i think. >> congressman, your final thoughts. >> i think the president has provided a service to america. he has allowed us to exhale on this. something that has gripped our homes and our conversations for the last several days. but he has also challenged us, and i don't want that to go lost. when he talks about looking at

the things that might serve as impediments or the things that might exacerbate this kind of violence, the state and federal laws that might to be changed because they are punitive in the wrong way and biased. the fact that unemployment among black men was 19%. if it was that among any other group worry, be jumping off the roof trying to draw attention to it. and the criminal justice sentencing system tamp down the enthusiasm that every young person has, because they want to believe that they're as good as anybody else. they want an opportunity to prove that and we've got to find ways to move the barriers ow oft their ways and reduce this kind of violence through conflict resolution, through fairness and through a genuine concern that i think the president clearly expressed today. >> is there a legislative initiative that comes out of all this, or is there more informal conversation that needs to take place? >> i'm not ready to trust elected officials on this. this is an american conversation among families. as i said before, to take place in churches and synagogues and

community organizations, to those who appear mentors and working with young people on the ground. i don't think you can legislate your way out of this. however, you can correct legislation, as i said before, that exacerbates this notion of violence by creating this due walt based on the color of one's skin. >> thank you to all our guests for a serious and enlightening conversation about race. kweis kwoo and ronald reagan. a story that happened to me after obama's 2008 speech about race. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. what's this? mmmm, nice car. there's no doubt, that's definitely gonna throw him off. she's seen it too. oh this could be trouble. [ sentra lock noise ] oh man. gotta think fast, herbie. back pedal, back pedal. [ crowd cheering ] oh, he's down in flames and now the ice-cold shoulder. one last play... no, game over! gps take him to the dog house. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression.

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the president gave an important speech about race today. a little more than five years ago, i was in the room at the national constitution center when senator obama gave a similarly serious address. this son of eastern european stock was anxious to hear the remarks of the man who is self-described as the son of a black man from kenya and a white woman from kansas. i was driven that day to the speech by my radio producer, a mayflower-bred, harvard educated mainline mom driving what else, a volvo station wagon. afterwards in the parking lot, she got into a fender-bender. the parked car that she hit had a puerto rican flag hanging from the rear view mirror. a parking attendant responded. he was a black man wearing a bow tie and speak winning a

african-american accent. i heard him tell my waspy producer that she couldn't leave the lot until a manager arrived. then i saw a latino man cross the lot and upon seeing the damage to his suzuki, he was instantly anguished. manny i later learned his name was. he was understandably upset to learn this had happened in his absence. an hour earlier i had been watching barack obama, and now i was caught up in an episode of "curb your enthusiasm" with more metaphors than i could keep track of. two blocks away after the speech, the lot attendant with the african accent returned to tell the wassy producer and the man not to worry. a natty bmw pulled up and out popped mr. tran, the asian supervisor who came to sort out the unfolding drama of the fender-bender. all parties spoke civilly, cooperated, parted company with handshakes all around, which only reminded me of something else i had heard that day from

barack obama. he said we may not all look the same and we may not have all come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction, towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, michael. and thanks to you for tuning in. i'm live from washington, d.c. today we saw today in washington something unusual and powerful at the white house. president obama made a surprise visit to the briefing room. it was a friday afternoon in the summer. he smiled. he joked around. but when he started to speak, it became clear this speech was unusual. he spoke about how black americans talk and think about race. what followed was as