Obama speaks of racial discrimination in US, S. Africa

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Former U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday acknowledged that racial discrimination still existed in the U.S. and South Africa.

Obama was delivering the keynote address at the 16th annual lecture in honor of late South African leader Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg.

"Plain fact is that racial discrimination still exists in both the United States and in South Africa," Obama told a crowd of 15,000 people.

He called on the world to invoke the spirit of Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years for opposing apartheid.

"Let me tell you what I believe. I believe in Nelson Mandela’s vision, I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln,” he said amidst loud cheers from the crowd.

Obama was in South Africa to deliver the sixteenth Annual Nelson Mandela lecture.

The former American leader also bashed the current U.S. leadership for its stance on climate change without naming President Donald Trump.

Trump opposed the Paris accord on climate change, saying climate change does not exist. His move caused anger among environmental activists and world leaders.

Obama also condemned leaders who cling on power, saying “authoritarian governments are known to breed corruption.”