Obama: Hate speech is at the root of human tragedies, from America to ethnic cleansing in the Balkans

(Patria) - Former United States President Barack Obama said that he and his wife Michelle sympathize with all families in El Paso and Dayton who have recently suffered mass shootings.

Although the details are still emerging, Obama said that several things are already known.

"First, no nation on earth is anywhere near the frequency of mass shootings as the US. No developed nation tolerates the level of gun violence that we do. Every time this happens, we are told that stricter gun laws won't stop all murders; that they won't stop every disturbed individual from getting a gun and shooting innocent people in public places. But the evidence indicates that they can stop some murders. They can prevent the pain of some families. In this case, we are not helpless. And as long as we all stand up and insist that officials be held accountable for changing gun laws, these kinds of tragedies will continue to happen," Obama said, reports the Patria News Agency.

"Second, although the motive for this shooting is not yet fully known, there are indications that the incident in El Paso follows a dangerous trend: troubled individuals who have embraced racist ideology and who see themselves as obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy. Like the adherents of ISIL and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they are radicalized by white nationalist websites that are multiplying on the internet. This means that both law enforcement agencies and internet platforms must find better strategies to reduce the influence of hate-spreading groups."

The former US president says that everyone must demand and behave in accordance with the values of tolerance and diversity "that should be the hallmark of our democracy."

"We should decisively reject the language used by any of our leaders who feed a climate of fear and hatred or normalize racist sentiment; leaders who demonize those who do not look like us, or who suggest that other people, including migrants, pose a threat to our way of life, or speak of other people as a lower race, or suggest that America belongs only to one specific type of people. Such language is nothing new – it has been at the root of most human tragedies throughout history, both here in America and around the world. It is at the root of slavery and Jim Crow, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. (Such language) has no place in our politics and our public life," Obama said.

He said it is time for the vast majority of good-willed Americans, of all races, religions, and political parties, to say so – clearly and unequivocally.