US President Barack Obama has used the "N-word" during an interview to argue that the United States has yet to overcome its issues with racism.

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

The radio interview came days after a mass shooting in South Carolina which police believe was racially motivated.

Mr Obama will deliver a eulogy at the funeral of one of the men killed.

Clementa Pinckney, a personal friend of the president, was state senator and pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where the attack took place.

In the interview, Mr Obama also lamented Congress' lack of will to enact stricter gun controls.

"It's not just a matter of overt discrimination," he told comedian Marc Maron in a podcast. "Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."

The president acknowledged that attitudes about race in the US have improved since his childhood, but he said that America's history of enslaving black people "casts a long shadow and that's still part of our DNA that's passed on".

He has publicly used the N-word before but not as president. He used the word several times in his book Dreams from my Father.
Analysis - Nick Bryant, BBC News, New York

Though Obama is doubtless speaking about race with more passion, it could hardly be argued that he has cast caution aside.

His comments on the podcast, despite using such an explosive word, extend only a few sentences.

In the aftermath of Charleston, when speaking from the White House, his strongest comments were reserved for gun control rather than race.

Noticeably, he has yet to deliver a nationwide address on race akin to John F Kennedy's famed televised address in June 1963 or Lyndon Johnson's remarkable speech before a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of Selma.

Nine black worshippers were killed by a gunman during a bible study group at an African-American church.

The suspect, Dylann Roof, has been pictured holding the Confederate flag, a symbol used by southern states in the civil war when they tried to break away to prevent the abolition of slavery.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33229032

I hate obama n his attitudes always claiming to be the wisest

^^what has he said wrong?He's American president.He's expected to be wise.

There's nothing wrong with the use of the word n**ger in his explanations.

This action was not news-worthy and only exposes the media for what they're; a divisive profit-fueled machinery used mainly in instilling terror and parnoia into the masses.

^^^^That my friend was exactly what came to my mind when i saw the news. I had to re-read and actually listen to the podcast, and I was wondering if i-don-dey-madt or what the heck is wrong with these people?