President Obama used the N-word during an interview to help make his case that the United States has not overcome its history or racism.
The President discussed the debate over race and guns in the wake of the racially motivated shooting death of nine black church members in Charleston last week.
“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on and we’re not cured of it,” Obama said.
Comedian Marc Maron, who was conducting the Monday interview, wanted to clarify – asking “racism?” to which the President replied:
Racism, we are not cured of it, and it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say n****r in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.
You can watch a clip, below, containing the audio and a transcript of the relevant portion of the interview, courtesy of NBC News.
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