Sandy MaloneWashington, DC – Former President Barack Obama is in the hot seat after posting a tone-deaf tweet about the massacre at Robb Elementary School that linked that tragedy to the anniversary of George Floyd’s death.
“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer,” the former President tweeted. “His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”
“In the aftermath of his murder, a new generation of activists rose up to channel their anguish into organized action, launching a movement to raise awareness of systemic racism and the need for criminal justice and police reform,” former President Obama tweeted in that thread.
The tweet was posted at about the same time that authorities began identifying some of the 19 4th graders who were murdered by an 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
Floyd died as he was being arrested by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020 after he was accused of passing a counterfeit bill and resisted arrest.
His death lead to the burning of a Minneapolis police precinct, destruction of large sections of that city, and sparked nationwide riots.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s murder in Hennepin County court on April 20, 2021.
A federal jury found all three officers guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights in February after Chauvin had already entered into a plea deal to avoid another lengthy trial.
Two of the three officers who assisted Chauvin in the arrest of Floyd are facing trial in July.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Thomas Lane pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter on May 18 and in exchange for his plea, prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss the charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder, the Associated Press reported.
Although Floyd has been characterized as a martyr for the black movement in the United States, his criminal history showed that he was a drug addict who had been arrested for domestic violence and a variety of other crimes.
When he died in the custody of Minneapolis police, he had a lethal amount of fentanyl in his blood.
Nineteen children and two teachers were gunned down on May 24 by an 18-year-old gunman who had just shot his grandmother in the face and posted to social media that he was going to shoot up an elementary school.
Details remain sketchy as authorities try to put together an accurate timeline of what happened during the gunman’s rampage but Democrats were quick to call for more gun control legislation by Congress.
The timing of former President Obama’s tweet celebrating Floyd in connection with the Uvalde massacre hit a sore spot with many who read it when it posted as more news was released the day after of the elementary school tragedy, the New York Post reported.
Barrington Martin II, a black special education teacher in Georgia and former Congressional candidate, called out the former President for glorifying a criminal.
“No sir, it doesn’t. The media made a martyr out of a man who didn’t deserve it. Those babies were truly innocent, he wasn’t. Let’s not put them in the same sentence of a man who’s untimely death was used to unleash a summer’s worth of chaos in the name of faux social justice,” Martin tweeted.
And it wasn’t just politicians who called the former leader of the free world on the carpet.
No sir, it doesn’t. The media made a martyr out of a man who didn’t deserve it. Those babies were truly innocent, he wasn’t. Let’s not put them in the same sentence of a man who’s untimely death was used to unleash a summer’s worth of chaos in the name of faux social justice.
— Barrington Martin II (@_BarringtonII) May 25, 2022
“Seriously?? This is the statement you make?? Guess you have to keep those flames of division burning even today,” singer-songwriter Lisa Matassa tweeted.
19 Children and two teaches are murdered in cold blood but hey let’s celebrate the women beating drug Addict instead 🤦♂️
— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) May 26, 2022
“It sucks those kids died, but remember George Floyd? He’s who I’m still thinking about.” — Barack Obama,” Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon tweeted.
Holly Matkin
