Former US president Barack Obama has warned against leaders feeding a "climate of fear" through their rhetoric.
In a rare statement, following two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio in which 31 people were killed, Mr Obama said: "We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments."
He did not specifically name US President Donald Trump, who has been accused in the wake of the massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio of fanning the flames of intolerance through his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
But Mr Obama singled out leaders who "demonise those who don't look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people".
He said that while the motivations behind the two mass shootings is not yet known, there are indications the El Paso shooting follows a dangerous trend, where "troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and seen themselves obligate to act violently to preserve white supremacy".
He said that while these individuals may act alone, like the followers of the so-called Islamic State and other foreign terrorist organisations, they have been radicalised by white nationalist websites.
Mr Obama added: "All of us have to send a clarion call and behave with the values of tolerance and diversity that should be the hallmark of our democracy."
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2019
Police in El Paso have confirmed that the death toll from the mass shooting at a Walmart store to 22 as Mr Trump planned a visit to the city.
Eight of those killed in the attack were Mexican citizens, according to the Mexican government.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Saturday's shooting appeared to be a hate crime and federal prosecutors called it domestic terrorism.
Mr Trump said Americans "must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" and blamed the internet and violent video games for fostering violence.
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El Paso Mayor Dee Margo told reporters at an afternoon news conference that Mr Trump would visit the city tomorrow.
The mayor asked that the visit amid a divisive gun control debate not be politicised.
US gun control activists say the internet and video games cannot be blamed because they are also are popular in countries where mass shootings are virtually unknown, in part because it is harder to obtain firearms.
In Dayton, Ohio, a gunman killed nine people in less than a minute and wounded 27 others in the downtown historic district before he was shot dead by police.
Police said the El Paso suspect opened fire with a rifle on Walmart shoppers, many of them bargain-hunting for back-to-school supplies, then surrendered to officers who confronted him outside the store.
In El Paso, residents brought crosses representing each of the victims to a growing memorial site near the store.
