Campus Reform’s Caleb Bonham recently asked some Colorado students for comments comparing President Obama’s reaction to the shootings of Florida’s Trayvon Martin and Australia’s Christopher Lane.

Their responses were most illuminating.

A number of students questioned President Obama’s judgement in commenting on Trayvon Martin’s death earlier this year while failing to acknowledge a similar case in which a caucasian, Chris Lane, was allegedly slain in cold blood by “bored” teenagers in Oklahoma earlier this month.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves” said one African American student. “It’s a lot more in fashion to look at white guys and say they’re the bad guys and we’re the good guys because we play the victim.”

“It’s more fashionable to go ahead and say… a black guy got killed by a white guy,” he added. “But it’s definitely not fashionable to say black guys killed white people.”

Lane, a 22-year-old Australian student, was allegedly shot by three teenanagers who later allegedly told police they were “bored.” While one of the suspects in the case is caucasian, the other two are black.

When Josh Earnest, principal deputy White House press secretary, was asked by Fox News on Aug. 21, about Lane’s death he responded “I’m not familiar with it, actually.”

In contrast, Obama has spoken repeatedly about Trayvon Martin, at one point declaring, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Students, who spoke with Campus Reform at the University of Colorado, suggested Obama had misstepped in giving attention to one case while ignoring the other.

“I feel maybe President Obama made some bad decisions regarding his comments during the Trayvon Martin case,” said one student. “Personally i don’t think he should have commented on the Trayvon Martin case. I thought that was a little out of line for a president, so no I would say he shouldn’t make a comment.”

Another student suggested that national media had intentionally played-up Martin’s case while ignoring Lane’s.

“Obviously, there’s some bias in the media” said one student familiar with the story of the Australian baseball player killed in Oklahoma. “It wasn’t as popular as the Trayvon Martin case.”


 
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