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President Barack Obama finally commented on his selection of Merrick Garland, a White man, as his choice for the next Supreme Court Justice.

Last week, while visiting the University of Chicago where he taught constitutional law for over ten years, President Obama explained his selection process, saying:

“At no point did I say, ‘You know what? I need a black lesbian from Skokie in that slot. Can you find me one?’”

During Monday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin and his panel of guests discussed Mr. Obama’s interesting comments and whether his remarks explain why he did not select a Black woman to sit on the highest court in the land.

NewsOne Now panelist Jamira Burley, Senior Campaigner for Amnesty International, said, “He (President Barack Obama) doesn’t explain anything in his comments; for anything, it actually draws to the fact that he wasn’t transparent in the process of choosing his nominee.”

She added, “A lot of people are still questioning why not choose a Black woman, or at the very least talk about the question of why we need to have a diverse Supreme Court overall, because it isn’t reflective currently now of [the] population.”

“Black women were his base — they elected him the first and second time and constantly he overlooks them for qualified positions,” Burley said.

Columnist and attorney Yolanda Young said of Pres. Obama’s remarks: “Ultimately we’re all slaves to our personality.” She continued, “He wanted this not to become theater, he wanted to put forth a nominee that he thought was reasonable and that the Republicans couldn’t say no to.”

“He (Pres. Obama) doesn’t understand the game that they’re playing and we thought that he was done compromising with them (Republicans), but he’s not,” Young said.

She added, “He can’t talk to us now about why he didn’t choose a Black woman, but the fact of the matter is, this isn’t our game, this isn’t our fight.”

Young continued, “No one is passionate about this choice” and willing to fight for it.

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss President Barack Obama’s controversial remark regarding diversity and the Supreme Court in the video clip above.

TV One’s NewsOne Now has moved to 7 A.M. ET, be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

Subscribe to the “NewsOne Now” Audio Podcast on iTunes.

SEE ALSO: 

Black Exodus: Why Are So Many African-Americans Leaving The RNC?

Obama Dismisses SCOTUS Diversity Criticism With Controversial Comment  was originally published on newsone.com