(CNN)
Washington - US President Barack Obama said the word that is considered racist in an interview about racism following a shooting at a black church that killed nine people in Charleston last week.
Reported by Reuters, in an interview in a radio show "WTF" with host Mark Maron, Monday (22/6) Obama said that there is still plenty of room for the US to fight against racism.
In the sentence, Obama called "nigger", a word that is considered racist in America.
"Racism, we still do not eliminate it. It's not a matter of not polite to say 'nigger' in public. It is not a measure of whether racism is still there or not," Obama said in an interview for one hour.
The word nigger is considered taboo because it refers to black or negro slaves in the early days of US history. The word was used by a landlord who wants to humiliate slaves by not calling their original names.
The White House clarified by saying that Obama chose the words to emphasize and give portrayal issues being discussed.
Obama also use these words in his book "Dreams from my Father."
Obama's remarks sparked an uproar in social media. Twitter users bustling criticized Obama's choice of words. One of them said that Obama is a racist.
By the end of today I'm sure I will learn that Obama is #actually the real racist here. http://t.co/qLK80YIHJG
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) 22 Juni 2015
But Obama is not the only US president to ever use the word. The difference, other presidential mention it with the intention of insulting words while Obama tried to put it in context talks said.
In the book "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word," author Randall Kennedy noted that President Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman never mentions the word.
Nixon recorded mention the blacks as "niggers" and "jigaboos", said other racist.
While Johnson called the legislation the US civil rights at the time as "the Act nigger". Truman calls Congressman Adam Clayton Powell blacks as "niggers lecture artisan." (CNNIndonesia)
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