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Trump fueling racism, bigotry in US: Journalist

Wednesday, 23 August 2017 6:12 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 August 2017 11:47 AM ]

Press TV

The United States was founded on racism by European settlers and President Donald Trump has fueled the racial violence by white supremacist groups, an African American journalist in Detroit says.

Racism and white supremacy is “coming from the top down, it is coming from people who control the means of production, who control the White House and the Congress,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African News Wire.

Trump “utilizes and fuels racism and white supremacy, and other forms of bigotry … [and] is very much in tune with these racists, xenophobic and pro-capitalist sentiments,” Azikiwe said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

“The United States itself, as a nation state, was founded on racism and genocide,” he said.

Slavery in the United States existed from early British colonial days until the end of the American Civil War in 1865. The enslavement of Africans, African Americans and Native Americans by whites was legal and common from the 16^th century until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.

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Trump has come under increasing pressure over his stance on the racial violence, with many members of his own Republican Party and US business executives distancing themselves from him.

A protester holds a sign denouncing racism and bigotry following a march against White Supremacy in Boston, August 19, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Human rights experts have warned about the rising racism and xenophobia in the United States, citing the rally in Charlottesville as the latest example.

On Wednesday, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged the US government to "unequivocally and unconditionally" condemn racist speech and hate crimes, warning that a failure to do so could fuel further violent clashes by white supremacist groups.

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