“We are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.”

That was Barack Obama’s message on the not-guilty verdict of George Zimmerman. Given Obama’s full history, what he should have said was this:

“The criminal justice system has spoken. It has sent a message to America. That message is that the legal lynching of a black person is okay. From Emmet Till to Troy Anthony Davis to Oscar Grant to Trayvon Martin, the journey has been long and with many stops in between. These stops include famous figures like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Fred Hampton. The stop includes little George Stinney, murdered by the racist State of South Carolina at age 14 in 1929. It includes the hundreds of black people killed by the police every year. That is the message this ruling has sent.

“I’m Barack Obama, and I approve this message.”