As former president of America, Barack Obama took to Twitter condemning racism, in the aftermath of a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, it became the most liked tweet ever, with more than 3 million social media users so far resonating similar sentiment.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love…”
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
“…For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
The tweet is the first in a series of three quoting the late South African leader Nelson Mandela. Mr Obama’s tweets from August 13 were in response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned violent and resulted in the death of a protester.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion,” Mr Obama tweeted, along with a photograph. The quote comes from Mr Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom.”
The tweet came along with a photo taken by the then-White House photographer, Pete Souza. The photo accompanying the poignant quote shows Mr Obama visiting a day care centre in the US in 2011. It’s a candid moment where he’s smiling and reaching up to four young children of different racial backgrounds. Mr Obama’s tweet has been ‘liked’ close to three million times already and has been retweeted over 1.2 million times.