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Sasha Obama lookalike's midriff photo sparks racism debate as Black man in background gets branded 'predator'

In the image, one can clearly see a Black man in the background. He is probably in the frame just as a matter of consequence, but racist Twitter did not hold back from calling him derogatory names

On December 14, an image that was alleged to be that of Barack Obama's 19-year-old daughter Sasha Obama took Twitter by storm. When an online magazine shared the image praising Sasha, people reshared it — either supporting it by calling her beautiful or criticizing it by calling her derogatory names. Many also pointed out the possibility that it isn't Sasha at all but a lookalike.

Amid all this one fact was evident — race drove all these conversations forward, whether it was over sexualising a young black woman's body or deeming her outfit inappropriate. However, most of all, it was tagging a Black man in the background as a "predator". 

In the image, one can clearly see a Black man in the background. He is probably in the frame just as a matter of consequence, but racist Twitter did not hold back from calling him derogatory names. "Who’s the creep in the back??" one asked. "Who the f**k is this scary looking a** dude in the background tho, and where’s is the secret service at," another added.

The photo sparked a massive debate as the systemic and pervasive nature of racism came to light. "Damn, a Black man just standing in the background, just standing there and the comments turned him into the FBI most wanted! Y'all really hate us huh!" tweeted a user.

"Y'all already labeled the brother a predator. They seem to be in the same house, bet know each other, but to y'all, a black man's just that, a predator. This kind of energy has gotten a lot of black men killed for nothing. Lest y'all forget, Emit Till was also labeled a predator," one tweeted. 

Taking consciousness of that, one user responded to this, adding that many of these comments are coming from the Black community. "He's just kinda ... looming and intense? I dunno. Unconscious racism is real and I'm white as f**k, so I'm not gonna say there's none of that happening here — BUT there's a whole lotta folks who appear from their avatars to also be black who are making the very same joke."

Another user recognized this too. "Black women will steady rant on how they are being disrespected by black man everyday but here they are calling a black man who did nothing wrong a predator for nothing sake.....ewwww  the hypocrisy is top notch Always finds a way to defend this type of BS."