To stress a point, US President Barack Obama deliberately uttered the word "nigger," a despised derogatory term to describe his own race, in an interview released on Monday, igniting a heated discussion about racism which he said still casts "a long shadow" over America.
By dropping the "N-word," Obama hit a raw nerve in a nation that is still mourning the death of nine black parishioners who were murdered by a white supremacist during a Bible study in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week.
In an interview for podcast "WTF with Marc Maron," Obama lamented that while the American nation has made great strides toward equality, racism still persists as "part of our DNA that's passed on," a CNN report said.
"Racism, we are not cured of it. And it's 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," Obama told Maron.
"Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior," he added during the hour-long discussion.
Citing personal experiences as a man born to an African father and white mother, America's first black president affirmed that race relations have improved significantly before acknowledging that discrimination remains deeply embedded in the American culture.
Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, praised Obama for his willingness to talk about racism, expressing belief that he did not mean to offend anyone.
But Morial condemned the President for choosing a "disparaging, hateful" word, which he said should never be uttered by artists or poets, not even "by presidents trying to teach a nation a lesson."
"I got called that name numerous times. It led to fights. It never is appropriate to use it. It ought to be retired from the English language. It belongs with the flag. It belongs with the hood," Morial said, according to the New York Times.
Author and poet Ishmael Reed thinks Obama was trying to be provocative, telling the NY Times: "He's got a short time to be president, and I think he's letting his hair down. You have to raise the decibels in order to be heard."
This is not the first time that President Obama uttered the most charged racial slur against African-Americans. In fact, Reuters reported the he used the word multiple times in his pre-presidential autobiography "Dreams from My Father."
Meanwhile, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the White House stands by President Obama, who he revealed did not regret using the word in response to American race relations.
"The argument that the President has made in the context of this interview is consistent with arguments that he's made in other settings," Earnest said, according to Time.
