WATCH: Obama Says America Has Not Overcome ‘Legacies of Slavery, Jim Crow’

During an interview with Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah, President Obama was asked about race, and racism. Obama replied by saying that the United States hasn’t overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow:

“My general theory was that if I was clear in my own mind about who I was, comfortable in my own skin, and had clarity about the way in which race continues to be this powerful factor in so many elements of our lives–but that it is not the only factor in so many aspects of our lives–that we have, by no means overcome the legacies of slavery, and Jim Crow, and colonialism, and racism, but that the progress we’ve made has been real, and extraordinary; if I’m communicating my genuine belief that those who are not subject to racism can sometimes have blind-spots or lack appreciation of what it feels to be on the receiving end of that, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not open to learning, and caring about equality and justice, and that I can win them over because there’s goodness in the majority of people–I always felt if I really knew that, and just communicated it as clearly as I could, that I’d be ok.”