Obama's New Personal Twitter Account Meets Wave Of Racist Tweets [View all]

[RandySF]

Hate on the Internet is nothing new, but the racist tweets sent personally to President Barack Obama over the past week may qualify as some kind of breakthrough.

After the President created his own personal account @POTUS on Monday — distinct from @WhiteHouse, which is run by staff — it took mere minutes before hordes of racist users sent him tweets targeting his race and appearance.

"Welcome to Twitter, nigger," one user wrote. Many followed in kind: some added adjectives like "tree-swinging," while still others edited photos to depict Obama as the victim of a lynching.

Several other users called the President "black monkey," one instructing him to "get back in your cage."

The New York Times reported that neither White House officials nor a Twitter spokesman could provide the exact number of racist tweets that made their way to the commander-in-chief.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obama-twitter-racism-personal-acount