NewsBarack Obama Charlestoncharleston shooting

Obama Says US Is Not Cured Of Racism Just Because It's Not Polite To Say 'N*****' In Public Anymore

US Is Not Cured Of Racism Just Because It's Not Polite To Say 'N*****'
Paul Vale
|

NEW YORK -- Barack Obama gave a blunt appraisal on Monday of the recent shooting in Charleston, telling a podcast that "it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public." The country's first African-American commander in chief added: "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."

Open Image Modal

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at the Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, Friday, June 19, 2015

Nine people were murdered in an African-American church in South Carolina last week, with Dylann Roof arrested on suspicion of the massacre. The FBI is looking into the killings as both a possible hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism.

Obama noted that "no other advanced nation on Earth" suffers these incidents with such frequency, ascribing that to the “legacy of slavery." He said: “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."

When asked how to stop the killings, he said it was possible to “make events like this less likely," namely passing laws to control gun rights in the US, however said the "grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong."

Open Image Modal

Suspected killer Dylann Roof appears via video link at the courthouse in South Carolina on Friday. The judge set his bail at $1 million

On gun control, Obama reflected: “The question is, is there a way of accommodating that legitimate set of traditions with some common-sense stuff that prevents a 21-year-old who is angry about something, or confused about something, or is racist, or is, you know, deranged from going into a gun store and suddenly is packing and can do enormous harm? That is not something that we have ever fully come to terms with."

Legislators in South Carolina are coming under increasing pressure to remove the confederate flag from the state building, with critics arguing the banner is a symbol of racial hatred. During the shooting, victims reportedly pleaded with the killer not to shoot, the attacker responding: "No, you've raped our women, and you are taking over the country... I have to do what I have to do." On Sunday, protesters in Charleston defaced a confederate monument, writing, “black lives matter” on a civil war statue.

Last week, a board member of the National Rifle Association responded to the Charleston killings by blaming the pastor and state senator who was gunned down in the massacre. Writing on the TexasCHLForum.com, Charles Cotton said Clementa Pinckney was to blame for the slaughter as he voted against a law that would have allowed congregants to carry concealed guns in churches.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

SEE ALSO:

Charleston Shooting
(01 of25)
Open Image Modal
A man kneels across the street from where police gather outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church following the shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. (credit:Wade Spees / The Post And Courier / AP)
(02 of25)
Open Image Modal
Worshippers embrace following a group prayer across the street from the scene of the shooting. A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside the historic black church, killing multiple people, including the pastor, in an assault that authorities described as a hate crime. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(03 of25)
Open Image Modal
A distraught man is comforted as a group of concerned people arrive inquiring about the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(04 of25)
Open Image Modal
Charleston police officers search for a shooting suspect outside the Emanuel AME Church. (credit:Matthew Fortner / The Post And Courier / AP)
(05 of25)
Open Image Modal
Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle early Thursday, June 18, 2015, down the street from Emanuel following the shooting. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(06 of25)
Open Image Modal
Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the scene of the attack. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(07 of25)
Open Image Modal
Worshippers gather to pray down the street from the Emanuel church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(08 of25)
Open Image Modal
Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(09 of25)
Open Image Modal
Charleston Emergency Management Director Mark Wilbert on Thursday holds a flier that was distributed to media with surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(10 of25)
Open Image Modal
Surreace Cox, of North Charleston, South Carolina, holds a sign during a prayer vigil down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early Thursday. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(11 of25)
Open Image Modal
Worshippers gather to pray in a hotel parking lot across the street from the church. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(12 of25)
Open Image Modal
A police officer uses a flashlight while searching the area. (Photo: David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(13 of25)
Open Image Modal
Rev. Sandy Drayton sheds a tear during a prayer vigil held at Morris Brown AME Church for the victims of Wednesday's shooting at Emanuel AME Church on Thursday, June 18, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. (credit:Grace Beahm / The Post and Courier / AP)
(14 of25)
Open Image Modal
Parishioners listen during a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the nine people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(15 of25)
Open Image Modal
A parishioner prays during a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. Police arrested 21-year-old suspect Dylann Storm Roof Thursday in Shelby, N.C. without resistance. (AP Photo/David Goldman) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(16 of25)
Open Image Modal
Natasha Wright speaks to her two daughters, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at a make-shift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested Thursday in the slayings of several people, including the pastor, at a prayer meeting inside the historic black church in downtown Charleston. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(17 of25)
Open Image Modal
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center right, joins hands with Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, left, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., right, at a memorial service at Morris Brown AME Church for the people killed Wednesday during a prayer meeting inside the historic black church in Charleston, S.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(18 of25)
Open Image Modal
People sit on the steps of Morris Brown AME Church while services are held June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. Police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old white gunman suspected of killing nine people at a prayer meeting in one of the nation's oldest black churches in Charleston, an attack being probed as a hate crime. The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southeastern US city was one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the country in recent years, and comes at a time of lingering racial tensions. (credit:BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)
(19 of25)
Open Image Modal
A South Carolina State Trooper walks past as people gather for a vigil while services are held at Morris Brown AME Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. (credit:BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)
(20 of25)
Open Image Modal
Charleston police Lt. S. Siprko removes flowers from the backseat of a patrol car, Thursday, June 18, 2015 to a makeshift memorial in front of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. T (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(21 of25)
Open Image Modal
State Senator Vincent Sheheen (D-Kershaw) gets emtional as he sits next to the draped desk of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Thursday, June 18, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. Pinckney was one of those killed, Wednesday night in a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(22 of25)
Open Image Modal
A group of women pray together at a make-shift memorial on the sidewalk in front of the Emanuel AME Church, Thursday, June 18, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was arrested Thursday in the slayings of several people, including the pastor at a prayer meeting inside the historic black church. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(23 of25)
Open Image Modal
Tyler Francis, right, hugs Shondrey Dear after praying together, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at a make-shift memorial near the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday night in Charleston, S.C. Shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, 21, was captured without resistance in North Carolina Thursday after an all-night manhunt, Charleston's police chief Greg Mullen said. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(24 of25)
Open Image Modal
Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(25 of25)
Open Image Modal
Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C., Thursday, June 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Suggest a correction
|
Submit a tip