The former U.S President Barack Obama has denounced the disruptive language coming from American leaders like Donald Trump. Obama said, “Feeds a climate of fear and hatred and normalizes racist sentiments”, in light of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton over the weekend. Obama didn’t mention his successor by name in his statement. He drew parallels between racist ideologies fuelling the kinds of shootings that have left America reeling to the followers of Isis and other foreign terrorist organizations. The statement of the former president follows just days after the attack left at least 31 dead in Ohio and Texas. The latter being carried out by a white man who reportedly wrote anti-immigrant screeds online before the shooting in a heavily Hispanic city.
Obama wrote, “There are indications that the El Paso shooting follows a dangerous trend: troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy. Like the followers of Isis and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet”. He also called upon American politicians to stand up to change gun laws and for those officials to be held accountable. Obama also wrote, “No other developed nation tolerates the levels of gun violence that we do. Every time this happens, we’re told that tougher gun laws won’t stop all murders; that they won’t stop every deranged individual from getting a weapon and shooting innocent people in public places”.
The former U.S President added, “But the evidence shows that they can stop some killings. They can save some families from heartbreak. We are not helpless here. And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening”. The director of the pro-immigrant group Families Belong Together, Sandra Cordero placed the blame on Trump, despite his denunciation of white supremacy on Monday. Cordero said, “As we watch President Trump attempt to condemn white supremacy, we cannot ignore the role his hateful rhetoric played in the deaths of at least 22 people in El Paso”. She added, “Once again, this administration’s decision to double down on white supremacist ideologies has led to the bloodshed of innocent people”.