Obama Blames ‘Splintered Media’ for Broken Politics: ‘We Almost Occupy Different Realities’ (Video)
thewrap.comTrayvon Martin’s death, and last week announced a new effort targeting four communities — Newark, New Jersey; Omaha, Nebraska; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Yonkers, New York — where the program will expand its offerings for boys and young men of color.The initiative encompasses issues from helping young people prepare for school to reducing gun violence.
In the interview, Obama acknowledged that the efforts are taking place amid widespread gun violence and a national stalemate about how to address it.“We are unique among advanced developed nations in tolerating, on a routine basis, gun violence in the form of shootings, mass shootings, suicides,” Obama said.“In Australia, you had one mass shooting, 50 years ago, and they said, ‘Oh, we’re not doing that anymore,'” he said. “That is normally how you would expect a society to respond when your children are at risk.”But in the U.S., gun ownership has become an ideological and partisan issue “in ways that it shouldn’t be,” the former president said. “It has become sort of a proxy for arguments about our culture wars.”“Instead of thinking about it in a very pragmatic way, we end up really arguing about identity, and emotion, and all kinds of stuff that does not have to do with keeping our children safe.”CBS News data has tracked more than 200 mass shootings, or incidents in which at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter, already this year.But Obama said that even with no action on the federal level, communities can work to reduce violence. “We don’t have room for cynicism and we can’t give up,” he added.Among the programs MBK sponsors is Guitars Over Guns, a grassroots project that seeks to empower young people through music and mentorship.
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