Black rights activist says drone strikes make Obama a 'Global Zimmerman' [View all]
Professor and black rights activist Dr. Cornel West says President Barack Obama's drone strike policy is similar to George Zimmerman's alleged racial profiling of Trayvon Martin - with the same deadly results.
On the left-leaning talk show, Democracy Now, West was asked to respond to Obama's comments last week about the racial tensions that have been expressed nationwide after Zimmerman's acquittal for the killing of Trayvon Martin. In a press conference Friday, July 19, the president said that racial profiling is a problem in the U.S., and that 17-year-old Martin, "could have been me 35 years ago."
In response, West, who has repeatedly criticized Obama for not doing enough about racial injustice and economic disparity in the U.S., said the president's words do not reflect his actions.
"President Obama has very little moral authority at this point," West said, adding that "George Zimmerman is a criminal - but President Obama is a global George Zimmerman, because he tries to rationalize the killing of innocent children, 221 so far, in the name of self-defense, so that there's actually parallels here."
West explained that he was referring to drone attacks in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, where an estimated 221 children have been killed as a result of collateral damage from drone attacks on suspected terrorists.
http://www.kfvs12.com/story/22914570/black-rights-activist-says-drone-attacks-make-obama-a-global-zimmerman
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