Obama implicitly rebukes Trump with call to reject normalisation of racism
Barack Obama has said Americans must “soundly reject
language” from any leader who “feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes
racist sentiments” in his first public statement since mass shootings in Texas
and Ohio, The Guardian reported.
In the former president’s statement, which did not
mention President Donald Trump directly, he also told Americans “we are not
helpless” in the face of the country’s high frequency of mass shootings.
“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 on Sunday killed nine people. The suspect in the El Paso
attack posted a racist, anti-immigrant screed shortly before, investigators
say. The motive of the Dayton shooter, who died in the attack, is not yet
clear.
