Zimmerman initiated the incident, followed him, ignored the 911 operator who told him not to engage. His actions after this incident, with his multiple arrests suggest he isn't the most stable individual.

The most objective version of events we have is that Martin attacked Zimmerman. Did Zimmerman do everything right? No. Would I have a beer with him? No.

At the end of the day, though, eyewitness and physical evidence conclusively tells us Martin was on top of Zimmerman attacking him.

As for the Brown case, while the shooting was more or less justified

There is justified, and there is not justified, there is not "more or less justified".

though I argue using a tazor or pepper spray would have been more appropriate against an unarmed person

The same one that was just reaching into your squad car, beating you in the head, and who just grabbed your gun (physical evidence confirms this...)?

there was a great deal of mistrust between the primarily minority citizens of Ferguson and the mostly white police department that was rooted in legitimate causes (the justice department report outlines this well)

Cool. Talk about that issue, not about how Michael Brown was shot because he was black. Michael Brown was shot because he attacked a police officer after being asked to walk on the sidewalk, not because of racial inequity.

Obama did his best to confront these issues in an even handed way

I think I've shown by example that Obama's willingness to take the side of an offending party when the races of the individuals involved is convenient contradicts the idea that his approach was even handed.

Yes there is a racial divide, but putting forward the idea that society at large is organized to disadvantage one race is not just disingenuous but counterproductive. Blacks are less likely to be shot by the police as a function of police interactions than whites.

What I think is the worst about all of this is that the President does have the power to advocate for (although not necessarily enact) the sort of changes that could meaningfully erode racial division in the US: criminal justice reform, deregulation, welfare reform, reforming gov't policies that subsidize the middle class at the expense of the poor (public schools, min wage, college subsidies, etc.).

Nope, gotta harp on white cops murdering unarmed blacks in the streets narrative, that'll help.