Obama reminds Trump things have been worse for African-Americans: 'That whole slavery thing wasn't very good'

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last updated 26 September 2016

President Obama thinks Donald Trump might be forgetting some history if he truly thinks "our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in," which is what the Republican nominee declared at a rally Tuesday in North Carolina.

"I think even most 8-year-olds will tell you that whole slavery thing wasn't very good for black people. Jim Crow wasn't very good for black people," Obama said in an interview that aired Friday on ABC News.

Obama stressed that it is important to acknowledge the residual feelings and resentment left behind by America's spotty history on race relations. "It's unrealistic to think that somehow that all just completely went away, because the Civil Rights Act was passed or because Oprah's making a lot of money or because I was elected president," he said. "That's not how society works. And if you have hundreds of years of racial discrimination, it's likely that the vestiges of that discrimination linger on."