President Obama stopped by Marc Maron’s garage to tape an episode of Maron’s popular podcast, “WTF with Marc Maron.”
The fascinating, seventy minute discussion — which can be listened to in full on iTunes and taped on Friday (June 19) — touched on many issues, from gun control to race relations to fatherhood in the White House, but it was the President’s quotes on this country’s deeply troubled race relations that first drew headlines Monday morning.
“We’re not cured of it [racism],” Obama said in the interview, per Politico. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘n—–‘ 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.”
Related
Additionally, Obama spoke about gun laws in the wake of the Charleston massacre. “It’s not enough to just feel bad,” Obama added. “There are actions that could be taken to make events like this less likely, and one of those actions we could take would be to enhance some basic, common-sense gun safety laws, that by the way, the majority of gun owners support…And unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong. I don’t foresee any legislative action being taken in this Congress and 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.’ And if you don’t have that kind of public and voter pressure, then it’s not going to change from the inside.”
Viewers can download the full chat between the two here.