When Barack Obama became president-elect on that Tuesday in November 2008, it soon became apparent that the man would repeatedly find himself in the crosshairs of conservatives. Even though he’s been out of office for more than five years, conservatives are still going postal whenever he makes controversial remarks.
Now they are groaning because Obama reminded us that as we grieve over the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, we should also take time to remember George Floyd because Wednesday was the second anniversary of the day of his death while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department, Mediaite [1] reports. His killing on Memorial Day 2020 spurred protests across the country and civil unrest.
In the two years since Floyd’s death and just one day after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School, Obama posted tweets suggesting that Americans should remember both tragedies.
“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer,” Obama wrote. “His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”
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. His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2022 [2]
In a pair of tweets that followed, Obama said Floyd’s death raised “awareness of systemic racism” and ignited the movement to reform the criminal justice system in the U.S. And Obama also shared a link to his foundation, which includes a graphic of Trayvon Martin.
“Inspired by these young leaders, @MBK_Alliance launched a Reimagining Policing Pledge for mayors and cities ready to take action. If you’re wondering how you can help make things a little better today, here are some ways to get involved: https://t.co/1E1MfT1sza [3]
Inspired by these young leaders, @MBK_Alliance [4] launched a Reimagining Policing Pledge for mayors and cities ready to take action. If you’re wondering how you can help make things a little better today, here are some ways to get involved: https://t.co/1E1MfT1sza [5]
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2022 [6]
As you might expect, Obama’s tweets were not given a warm reception by some of the more outspoken conservatives.
George Floyd was a violent criminal lowlife hopped up on fentanyl. The fact that you would compare his death to the slaughter of 20 children is just incomprehensible. My God you are a vile man. https://t.co/4kvcvIQa5S [7]
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 26, 2022 [8]
Walsh bills himself as a “theocratic fascist, bestselling children’s book author, women’s studies scholar, biologist,” in his Twitter profile, and while some Fentanyl was found in Floyd’s bloodstream during his autopsy, USA Today [9] found that:
“…fentanyl isn’t what killed Floyd, and the amount in his system was similar to that found in people who took the drug and were arrested for DUI, but didn’t die.”
And I’m going to state the obvious here, even if he were “hopped up” on Fentanyl is that any reason he should die? Shouldn’t police be especially careful when they find people in this situation?
Then there’s this nincompoop, who gets his facts a bit…wrong.
George Floyd robbed a pregnant woman at gun point. It’s not the same, you divisive psychopath. https://t.co/QGJPGPKfLt [10]
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 25, 2022 [11]
According to Politifact, [12] Floyd was sentenced to five years in jail for being involved in an armed robbery in 2007. The woman who was robbed, Aracely Hernandez was “injured by another man, and there’s no evidence she was pregnant at the time of the incident.” Social media is rife with misinformation, and apparently, Cernovich fell for this one. I’ll refer you to Politifact if you’re interested in finding out more. This is a whole story in itself and I don’t have the space here to cover it.
Questions are now being raised about the police handling of the tragedy in Uvalde and I think Obama was reflecting on this and relating it to what happened to George Floyd since it was the anniversary of his death.
And some conservatives venting on Twitter were just plain stupid. There’s no other way to say it.
"It sucks those kids died, but remember George Floyd? He's who I'm still thinking about." — Barack Obama
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) May 25, 2022 [13]
Of course, Dillon is the CEO of @thebabylonbee, [14] a conservative Christian satire news satire website that’s a real rag if there ever was one. Just thought I’d pop that in here.
And I’ll let you figure out what to think about this gem:
Lets forget about the death of 19 children to talk about how one man's death sparked the most widespread and destructive riots in our country's history and a crime wave that resulted in a massive homicide spike all of which disproportionately effected black communities. https://t.co/Mfx1ryXc5B [15]
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 26, 2022 [16]
And the hits keep coming:
Anti-cop Barack Obama pushes forward with the Left's war on police… https://t.co/y38w5GiLgu [17]
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) May 26, 2022 [18]
You are the #1 reason we are Republicans & Conservatives today. Thank you! https://t.co/ijywfF0W8X [19]
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) May 26, 2022 [20]
I truly hope the grieving families in Uvalde do not see this. https://t.co/JciNrlOBzh [21]
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) May 25, 2022 [22]