First lady Michelle Obama says the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida is a "tremendous loss" and that all Americans "have to rally around that piece of it." [Obama made her first public comments on the case in an interview NPR’s "Tell Me More" host Michel Martin that aired Tuesday. ](http://www.npr.org/2012/04/17/150744197/first-lady-michelle-obama-our-challenges-are-complex) Transcript below: MRS. OBAMA: Well, you know, first, I — all I can say is that, you know, my heart goes out to the parents, because we all as parents understand the tragedy of that kind of loss, and I think that’s really the thing that most people connect to. And it’s important for us not to lose sight of the fact that this is a family that’s grieving and there’s been a tremendous loss. And we all have to rally around that piece of it. Talking is good. Conversations have to be forever. You know, they can’t come in spits and starts when there’s an incident. I think we all need, as a country, to continue to talk about these issues, to understand our communities and the challenges that we face, which are different and unique depending upon where you live. It’s all about, you know, continuing to get to know ourselves in a very diverse and complicated country that is America. It is a wonderful place to live. But because it is so diverse, our challenges are complex. So there isn’t, you know, a one-shot solution to this. It is complicated. It takes time. It takes openness. It takes compassion. It takes patience. And it takes a lot of work. So we should all be ready to roll up our sleeves and keep doing that work.