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The
former
president
in a
statement
urged
Americans
to
"soundly
reject
language
coming
out of
the
mouths
of any
of our
leaders
that
feeds a
climate
of fear
and
hatred
and
normalizes
racist
sentiments."
(Scott
Olson/Getty
Images)
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Obama:
Americans
must not
let
racist
views
become
normalized
By
ELANA
SCHOR
APNews.com
WASHINGTON
- 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.”
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