Obama uses N-word, says we are ‘not cured’ of racism

President Obama exiting Air Force One in San Francisco on Friday. The comedian Marc Maron interviewed the president for an episode of his podcast that was released on Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP): US President Barack Obama says his country has not overcome its history of racism and is using the N-word to make his case. 

In an interview, Obama weighed in on the debate over race and guns that has erupted after the arrest of a white man for the racially-motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina. 

"Racism, we are not cured of it," Obama said. "And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger 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." 

Citing his own experience as a young man who was born to a white mother and an African father, Obama said that while progress has been made, the legacy of slavery in the United States still “casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA.”

Obama echoed comments he made Thursday and said that he’s had to make speeches about a “devastating loss” too often.

“It’s not enough just to feel bad. There are actions that could be taken to make events like this less likely. One of those actions we could take would be to enhance some basic common sense gun safety laws,” Obama said.

Obama lamented Congress’s lack of action on gun control and said “Unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong. I don’t foresee any legislative action being taken in this Congress.”

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Mr. Obama confronted race directly when he gave a speech about the issue to confront comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his onetime pastor. In his first term, Mr. Obama mostly shied away from the issue of race, except for an early comment about a white police office in Cambridge, Mass., who arrested a black Harvard professor.

Mr. Obama’s interview with Mr. Maron took place on Friday, in the garage where the comedian records his popular podcast. Officials said they did not know of another time when a sitting president had recorded an interview in someone’s garage studio.

Mr. Obama said in the interview on Friday that despite broad support among the American public for changes in gun laws, legislation is unlikely to pass soon because of the power of the National Rifle Association.

“I don’t foresee any real action being taken until the American public feels a sufficient sense of urgency and they say to themselves, ‘This is not normal, this is something that we can change, and we’re going to change it,’” Mr. Obama said. “And if you don’t have that kind of public and voter pressure, then it’s not going to change from the inside.”