Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago called upon the White House to apologize for a video posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account portraying former President Barack Obama and his wife as apes.
“Portraying human beings as animals—less than human—is not new,” said Cardinal Cupich. “It was a common way in past centuries for politicians and others to demean immigrant groups as each arrived, the Chinese, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Latinos and so on.”
The prelate added:
A few days ago, we saw that in the White House such blatant racism is not merely a practice of the past. If the President intentionally approved the message containing viciously racist images, he should admit it. If he did not know of it originally, he should explain why he let his staff describe the public outcry over their transmission as fake outrage. Either way he should apologize.
Bishop Daniel Garcia of Austin, the chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, also criticized the video, which President Trump discussed in an exchange with reporters.