Here is what my #shithole looks like’: African countries and Haiti react to Trump’s remark

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — President Trump’s dismissal of Haiti, El Salvador and all of Africa as “shithole countries” whose inhabitants are not desirable for U.S. immigration shocked people around the world and provoked swift condemnation.

The president made the remarks Thursday during a White House meeting with lawmakers and suggested immigrants from Norway or Asia would be preferable.

“The African Union Commission is frankly alarmed at statements by the president of the United States when referring to migrants of African countries and others in such contemptuous terms,” said Ebba Kalondo, the spokeswoman for the African Union. “Considering the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the U.S. during the Atlantic slave trade, this flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice.”She added that the statement was particularly unpleasant coming from the leader of country that is a “global example” of how a strong and diverse country can be the product of migration, and she expressed hope eventually that “the values the U.S. is known for because of its particular experience with migration will come to bear.”

The reaction from the United Nations human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville, was uncharacteristically blunt, describing the remarks as “racist.”There is no other word one can use but ‘racist,’” he said at a briefing in Geneva. “You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”