An Honest Conversation from the President

President Obama gave some very personal thoughts on how African American men feel things in America.

After reading books like The New Jim Crow and listening to friends dialogue on my Facebook and Twitter, along with reading some of their blogs, I am way past even thinking, “Isn’t it time to get over it?”

When I’ve watched cops hassle African American men in parks when I’m sitting 30 feet away and they didn’t even say “Hi” to me let alone question me on why I was in the park, I understand a little more.

There are things I don’t understand and I want to understand more.

I can say I do understand me, and while I do not speak for any more white males in American than me, I do want to say I work hard to have friends of every ethnic group around me, and I still fail. I fail to understand the tensions.

But I want to work harder to be a friend and make sure from own perspective I see people first rather than color first.

I stand here to say, “I don’t get it right, but I want to.”