OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:05 PM – Thursday, May 22, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt engaged in a tense exchange with an NBC News correspondent regarding the accuracy and implications of a video shown by President Donald Trump to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a Wednesday meeting in the Oval Office.
The video, which Trump explained was just one out of many that showed evidence of the genocide against White South African farmers, became a point of contention.
During Thursday’s press briefing, NBC News correspondent Yamiche Alcindor challenged the heart-wrenching footage, arguing that, contrary to Trump’s assertion, it “did not depict” a burial site, but rather, a display of white crosses symbolizing deceased farmers.
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She seemingly continued to gaslight the press secretary, arguing that the crosses were a tribute to just one murdered Afrikaner couple, not a representation of widespread or verified killings. Leavitt, however, dismissed Alcindor’s efforts to switch up the narrative.
“It’s unsubstantiated that that’s the case,” Alcindor told Leavitt.
“No, it’s true that the video showed [the] image of crosses in South Africa about white farmers that have been killed and politically persecuted because of the color of their skin.”
“Those crosses are representing their lives, and the fact that they are now dead, and the government did nothing about it,” Leavitt continued.
President Trump met with South African President in the Oval Office on Wednesday, aiming to “reset” diplomatic relations. However, the meeting quickly took an unexpected turn. Trump requested the lights be dimmed before presenting video footage and photographic proof of evidence depicting ethnic cleansing and racist politicians in South Africa.
Trump noted that over 1,000 White farmers have been killed for the color of their skin.
In South Africa, political figures such as Julius Malema of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, have made ongoing racist, inflammatory remarks about Whites in South Africa. These statements fuel rising anti-White sentiment — which is becoming more prevalent in the country, according to Afrikaner families who recently came to the U.S. to accept their refugee status.
Malema has consistently called for Black South Africans to murder White farmers in the country, singing the chant “Kill the Boer” – while celebrating the racist song’s 10th anniversary — NDTV reported.
“Look, here are burial sites all over the place. These are all white farmers that are being buried,” Trump told Ramaphosa, pointing to the crosses that Leavitt discussed on Thursday.
“Each one of those white things you see is a cross, and there’s approximately 1,000 of them. They’re all white farmers. The family of white farmers,” the commander-in-chief stated. “It’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Additionally, a White House official later informed a number of news outlets, including the Independent, that there exists “extensive evidence of the persecution of White farmers” in South Africa, while citing a long list of testimonies of several dozen White South Africans who were brought to the U.S. under the new refugee program — in addition to the videos and photographs that Trump has presented.
In 2024, it was estimated that White South Africans constitute around 17% of the national Cabinet government.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) tracks farm attacks and murders, but does not disaggregate data by race, which makes it difficult to determine the exact number of Afrikaner (White) farmers who have been murdered or attacked. However, according to Agri SA, an agricultural organization, and other groups like AfriForum, more than hundreds of White farmers have been murdered since the mid-1990s.
“Plaasmoorde: The Killing Fields” (2018) is a documentary by Katie Hopkins which focuses on violence against farmers, particularly White farmers, in South Africa. It includes interviews with farm attackers and police officers, some of whom confirm police complicity in the attacks, according to the film’s description.
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