Former President Barack Obama said Monday, in his first public statement since a pair of mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, that Americans must “soundly reject language” from any leader who “feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
The statement , which did not mention President Donald Trump directly, also reminded Americans that “we are not helpless” in the face of the nation’s high frequency of mass shootings compared to other countries.
“And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening,” Obama wrote.
A shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday killed 22 people, and a second shooting outside a crowded bar in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday killed nine people. The suspect in the El Paso massacre posted a racist, anti-immigrant screed shortly before the attack, investigators say. The motive of the Dayton shooter, who died in the attack, isn’t yet clear.
Obama, like many presidents before him, has exerted caution as he avoids pointed criticism of his successor. But his Monday comments left little doubt that his urging to reject the normalization of racism referred to Trump — who has spoken disparagingly about immigrants, calling them rapists and murderers, and has decried an “invasion” at the southern border. Trump has previously tempered his criticism of white supremacy, though he said in scripted remarks to the nation earlier Monday that the nation “must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.” He also said he had directed the FBI to examine steps to identify and address domestic terrorism.
The former president noted that the El Paso shooting followed a trend of “troubled individuals who embrace ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy.” Obama advised Americans to also denounce the language of “leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human.”
Such language has “been at the root of most human tragedy throughout history,” Obama added, and has “no place in our politics and our public life.”
(AP)
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13 Responses
The idiot has spoken. The dog barked. What a complete moron. How much is he getting paid to inflate the false narrative about Trump and racism? Obama is to be detested by anyone with an ounce of morality and intellect.
This guy is delusional. Who allowed the Trayvon Martins to bleed the US? Who empowered racism, if not he? He made it possible for this violent hatred to become commonplace today by creating an environment of mistrust. I am not as au fait with statistics on hate crimes as I once was, but I’m sure there are plenty of examples of race baiting by this Marxist former Loser in Chief.
He tried several times but was unable to get serious gun control legislation through Congress, including common sense background checks (closing the loophole on private sales), restrictions on large magazines, etc. While I hated his positions on EY, he spoke in measured and respectful terms about his opponents. Even in yesterday’s comments, he never referenced Trump by name or even Republicans, focusing his comments on ALL leaders of both parties.
I personally think he was speaking about himself, a government official who went out of his way to exacerbate racism in this country by siding with a black professor and a black teenager well before any facts had been established. He denigrated numerous police departments for shooting at black criminals before trials found the police officers to be innocent.
As a result, he has lowered the morale of police departments around the country, making them fear taking aggressive action against criminals because they may be held accountable for actions intended only to defend the innocent population. This president has done more to create an environment of racism than any other political office holder, thereby taking us back at least 50 years in race relations in this country.
Someone forgot to tell him that the Dayton one was a by a left-wing fanatic (though Obama like most Democrats feels that if a conservative goes crazy it is due to racism, whereas if a liberal goes crazy it is a mental health issue).
What a media protected hypocrite. Obama/Holder implemented the Divide and Conquer strategy perfectly. They pitted black against white, gay against straight, poor against wealthy, etc…There were no greater race baiters than Obama & Holder. Obama had complete control of the Congress and Senate AND DID NOTHING! All talk no do. The gold digger was too busy playing golf even immediately after hearing that American James Foley had his head chopped off by his beloved Muslim freedom fighters. I guess James, being a privelaged WHITE, had it coming. Obama didn’t say boo when his fellow Muslims massacred innocent white folks in San Bernardino holiday event. All Obama was concerned about was backlash backlash backlash. Obama, and that wife of his’, open hatred toward white folks is appalling. The Thought Police in the media are just as complicit. Yes, we know, the police acted stupidly. Obama and that wife of his are the last people in the world who should be lecturing others on inflammatory speech.
This mamzer has no right to preach to us about racism and violence. We all know that he is a friend with vicious anisemyte Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright. After inviting numerous times to the White House notoriously violent and racist Black Lives Matter he has audacity to open his lying mouth.
To Gadolhadorah: Your comment is a breath of fresh air in a windstorm blowing from the sewage treatment plant that consists of most of the comments on this article about Obama’s reasonable and measured comments about a tragedy in El Paso.
32 mass shootings under his watch…
8 years of conditioning of the mind. Today’s hate that we see the Anti American socialism is bastered child of this Jew hater.
And on two elections the Jews were his biggest supporters. He gave the Jews nothing but “Sorros”.
His parting gift, hours before he was to stop down was a United Nation Anti israel resolution and millions of dollars to PA terror organizations.
Not to mention the billions of cash loaded on a plane to Iran. He is Haman HaRasha.
huju is trying to make shiduch with Gadolhadorah ?
huju, this is what you can find in the real “sewage treatment plant” called Obama’s mouth:
Advice on how to deal with his opponents: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun”
Obama giving advice to Latino group: “punish our enemies and reward our friends.”
Obama on how to argue with Republicans: ‘I want you to argue with them and get in their face’
And who can forget Mad Max Waters inciting violence against Republicans and Trump supporters
“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up,” “If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
This anti Semite par excellence must feel that anti semitism is not racism