The United States marks Juneteenth day – an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the country, the US President has tweeted a manipulated video that appears to downplay racism in the country.
The new controversy emerges a day ahead of President Donald Trump’s official return to the campaign trail with an indoor, in-person rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the location of a race massacre in 1921 when white mobs attacked black residents in what was at the time one of the wealthiest black communities in the country.
In the President’s controversial tweet, a black toddler is seen running away from a white toddler with a fake CNN chyron reading: “Terrified Toddler runs from Racist Baby”.
It then cuts to the beginning of the video of the two little friends running into each other embrace before heading in the same direction. With the video then showing a message about being weary of fake news.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020
Only the tweet was flagged by twitter as manipulated with CNN responding that they covered the story as it happened and will continue working with facts rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children.
On a day of great importance to black Americans when on June 19th, 1865 Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with the news that the enslaved were now free.
The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo says, “President Trump bowing to pressure to move the date of his Tulsa rally from Friday to Saturday out of respect for what is essentially black independence day in America – and despite public health concerns about large gatherings amidst the coronavirus pandemic.”
Trump supporter Randall Thom is unperturbed, “In a city, specifically the affluent black neighbourhood of Greenwood, where up to 300 people were killed in one of the worst incidents of racial violence in US history. Dwight Eaton owns a coffee shop there”.
The Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus stressing the importance of Juneteenth as the House Representative Regina Goodwin explained.
As the President and his supporters descend on the city, questions about his insensitivity about race abound; including comments in an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week in which he claimed that nobody had ever heard about Juneteenth, later adding quote: “I did something good, I made Juneteenth very famous.”
