Kenya burying massacre victims, President Obama doesn’t call them ‘Christians’
Just a week out from the shocking Kenya massacre which left 148 dead, most Christians, the nation buries victims and attempts to regroup. President Obama is taking heat from critics for not acknowledging the victims’ overwhelming Christian belief.
The attackers from the al-Qaeda-aligned Sunni Muslim group, al-Shabaab, murdered 142 students after storming the Garissa University College in Kenya just ahead of Easter.
Bodies were released this week and funerals have been quick. Nearly as fast has been the harsh response from President Obama’s critics. His full statement is below and is void of references to Christians or identifying the attackers as Muslim jihadists.
Some critics made comparisons to the Charlie Hebdo attack noting that has been no real outcry.
“The whole world stood up for #CharlieHebdo & showed solidarity for German wings. African lives matter too. #Garissa,” Lulu, a student from the University of Virginia, wrote on Twitter.
“Kenya attack has completely disappeared from front pages..147 people shot dead. No conscience stirred.. No marches..nothing,” she tweeted on Friday, the day after the attack at Garissa University.
David Okoro, a consultant from London, also lamented the lack of coverage and outcry.
“147 students murdered in Kenya. Limited reaction from media. Where is the solidarity?Where is Je Suis Kenya? #AfricanLivesMatterTo #Garissa,” he wrote.
“These innocent students were slaughtered like chickens,” Tabitha Mutuku, a Kenyan mother, told BBC. She said she was “bitter” because little was done by the government to protect the students.
From President Obama:
Michelle and I join the American people in expressing our horror and sadness at the reports coming out of Garissa, Kenya. Words cannot adequately condemn the terrorist atrocities that took place at Garissa University College, where innocent men and women were brazenly and brutally massacred. We join the world in mourning them, many of whom were students pursuing an education in the pursuit of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. They represented a brighter future for a region that has seen too much violence for far too long. We also commend the heroism of the responders who lost their lives in the selfless protection of the students and faculty.
I know firsthand the extraordinary resilience and fundamental decency of the people of Kenya. So I know that the people of Garissa and all of Kenya will grieve, but their determination to achieve a better and more secure future will not be deterred. And neither will the resolve of the United States. We will stand hand-in-hand with the Kenyan Government and people against the scourge of terrorism and in their efforts to bring communities together. This much is clear: the future of Kenya will not be defined by violence and terror; it will be shaped by young people like those at Garissa University College – by their talents, their hopes, and their achievements. This is a message I will relay to the Kenyan people when I visit Kenya in July. Even at this difficult hour, the Kenyan people should know they have an unwavering friend and ally in the United States of America.