Pres. Obama says “we appear to have seen” a hate crime in the alleged attack on a Chicago man captured on Facebook. https://t.co/4ksnnwAClz pic.twitter.com/g6dcqICCHX
— ABC News (@ABC) January 5, 2017
In an interview with ABC News, President Obama condemned the attack on a mentally disabled white man that was filmed in Chicago and broadcast on Facebook Live. The four black suspects — who shouted, “F*ck Donald Trump!” and “F*ck white people!” — have now been charged with felony kidnapping and hate crimes. The president singled out the suspects’ acts as “horrible” and “despicable,” but he doesn’t think the video is a sign that race relations in the United States are growing worse. He believes that the most heinous instances of racism are simply more visible now:
“I promise you, for the most part, race relations have gotten better. But I think what we have seen over the last several years, when it comes to tensions between police and communities, the internet, the horrific hate crimes that we appear to have seen on Facebook.”
Obama elaborated to say that technology highlights instances of racism and makes people more aware of them, which he believes will actually help society overcome discrimination in the long run:
“So part of what technology allows us to see now is the terrible toll that racism and discrimination and hate takes on families and communities. But that’s part of how we learn and how we get better. We don’t benefit from pretending that racism doesn’t exist and hate doesn’t exist.”
The president’s response follows that of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who described the video as showing “a level of depravity that is an outrage to a lot of Americans.” The four suspects are expected to appear in court on Friday for further proceedings on their hate crime charges
(Via ABC News)