After the Baltimore riots in 2015, President Barack Obama spoke about communities in the major Maryland city that are struggling with “abject poverty,” “no investment,” and drugs.
Obama partially blamed the riots on the lack of opportunity in Baltimore communities, pointing out the high rates of crime, substandard education, and drug abuse. (RELATED: Obama Refers To Baltimore Rioters As ‘Criminals And Thugs’)
WATCH:
Riots are more likely to occur “if you have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunities, where children are born into abject poverty, they’ve got parents — often because of substance abuse problems, or incarceration, or lack of education themselves — can’t do right by their kids,” Obama said at the time.
He continued his statements by lamenting that there are “no fathers who can provide guidance to young men,” and that “drugs are flooding the community.”
Obama’s comments sound somewhat similar to criticisms of the city lobbed by President Donald Trump on Saturday. Trump tweeted about the city’s crime and trash problem and asserted that Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings wasn’t doing enough for his district.
Trump was accused of racism for attacking Cummings and Baltimore, which he asserted is “infested” with rats and is a place that “no human being” would want to live.