BALTIMORE-- Many people were enraged when President Barack Obama used the word "thugs" to describe the rioters who looted stores in Baltimore.
Obama criticized the "criminals and thugs who tore up" Baltimore. City Councilman Carl Stokes went off on CNN.
"Of course it's not the right word to call our children 'thugs,'" Stokes said. "Just call them n*ggers. Just call them n*ggers. No, we don't have to call them by names such as that."
You can watch Stokes get into it with CNN anchor Erin Burnett, below.
And he was far from the only one furious at the president.
I heard Obama call protesters who damaged property "thugs". I did not hear him call police who sever black spines "thugs".— W. E. Baé Du Bois (@alwaystheself) April 29, 2015
Obama made you feel all warm and fuzzy, adopted the rhetoric of a civil rights leader, then sold out Baltimore's kids as "thugs."— AFRICA IS A COUNTRY (@AfricasaCountry) April 29, 2015
Not asking Obama to take the WH podium w/ his fist up & durag blowin in the wind, yellin "F the police." Just want him to not call us thugs.— the other one (@imfromraleigh) April 28, 2015
The mayor backtracks
Anger about use of the word "thugs" was already on many people's minds. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also called the looters "thugs" on Monday, though she later backtracked after a torrent of criticism.
"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who, in a very senseless way, are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," she said at a press conference.
Melvin Townes, a 16-year-old black Baltimore resident, shook his head in disbelief at the mayor's word choice.
"Don't call me that," Townes said. "That makes me so f*cking mad. That lady had the audacity to call us thugs. She's not solving no issues."
"That lady had the audacity to call us thugs. She's not solving no issues," Melvin Townes, 16, #Baltimore, abt mayor. pic.twitter.com/yPefWtR7Gv— Colin Daileda (@ColinDaileda) April 28, 2015
Rawlings-Blake tried to stuff the words back in her mouth on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, saying "we don't have thugs in Baltimore." But that retraction came far too late for many people.
I wanted to clarify my comments on "thugs." When you speak out of frustration and anger, one can say things in a way that you don't mean.— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015
That night we saw misguided young people who need to be held accountable, but who also need support. And my comments then didn't convey that— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015
Baltimore residents have hurled criticism at the mayor since Gray's death for, in their opinion, siding with police more than with the people.