Obama Admits United States ‘Not Cured’ of Racism

Racism is still a major issue in the United States despite hundreds of years of racial struggle among African-Americans, US President Barack Obama said during an interview on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In recent months, the issue of racial inequality has shifted to the forefront of the US national debate amid numerous seemingly racially motivated police killings around the country, as well as racially motivated mass shootings, most recently in Charleston, South Carolina.

"The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, that casts a long shadow, and that is still part of our DNA that is passed on, we are not cured of it…racism we are not cured of,” Obama said during a podcast interview with comedian Marc Maron.

Obama admitted it was “incontrovertible” to say that race relations have improved during his lifetime, and used a derogatory N-word to describe the country’s history of racial struggles.

"It is not just a matter of it not being polite to say 'nigger' in public, that is not the measure of whether racism still exists or not,” Obama said. “It is not just a matter of overt discrimination.”

Obama explained, when it comes to racism, societies do not completely heal “overnight,” adding that “the march is not over” to end racism, “and the work is not yet completed.”

After 9 are killed in church massacre, #Charleston responds with a march for peace. http://t.co/jILpKy4IfA pic.twitter.com/mN44fvOnBN

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) June 22, 2015

Last week, a 21-year-old white man opened fire at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine African-Americans. Prior to the fatal shooting, gunman Dylann Roof allegedly published a racist manifesto describing African-Americans as “stupid and violent.”