This Tweet By Barack Obama Quoting Former South African President Nelson Mandela Breaks Twitter Record

Former US President Barack Obama’s tweet on Saturday in response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia became the most liked tweet in the history of the social media platform.

The tweet, which read "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…,” quoted former South African President Nelson Mandela’s biography. It broke Twitter record for most likes on Tuesday, August 15th at 10:07pm, when it had 3.8 million likes, 1.47 million retweets and 59,000 replies, said Twitter spokewoman. The tweet currently has over 3.9 million likes and 1.5 million retweets.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

The tweet is accompanied by a photo of Obama taken at a day-care center in Bethesda, Maryland featuring a diverse group of children. The photo was taken in 2011 while Obama was still in office.

The tweet was in response to racially charged violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend after the KKK, neo-Nazis and other racist groups held a protest near the University of Virginia. A man who took part in the protest ran over a group of counter-protestors, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring several others.

Here were follow-up tweets by the former President:

"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love..."

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

"...For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017