REUTERS/Mike Theiler
Former President Barack Obama took to Twitter on Saturday to weigh in on the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which took a deadly turn when a driver mowed down a crowd of pedestrians and killed one 32-year-old woman.
In a series of tweets, Obama quoted Nelson Mandela:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/896523232098078720
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/896523357272911872
“…For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
The quote comes from Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden also posted on Twitter, appearing to comment on President Donald Trump’s earlier statements on Charlottesville.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/896496130497929220
There is only one side. #charlottesville
Earlier on Saturday, Biden had also tweeted that “we must be stronger, more determined and more united than ever. Racism and hate have no place here.”
Trump had drawn backlash from Democrats and Republicans alike when he pinned the violence “on many sides” instead of singling out white nationalists for condemnation.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides,” Trump said. “It’s been going on for a long, long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It’s been going on for a long, long time.”
Late on Saturday, the FBI announced that it opened a civil rights investigation into the Charlottesville car crash.
“The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice. When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
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