US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the race issue head on today saying the US was in a "racial stalemate" and has been stuck in it "for years".
He criticised the Baptist minister, who baptised his children and officiated at his wedding, for what he described as racially charged rhetoric but said he could not disown him.
Mr Obama sought to quell a firestorm of controversy ignited when attention was called to frequent sermons from the pulpit by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which the Illinois senator attended for two decades.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama speaks about race during a news conference in Philadelphia
Reverend Wright, who retired recently, has railed that the September 11th 2001 attacks were retribution for US foreign policy, called the US government the source of the Aids virus and expressed anger over what he called racist America.
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Mr Obama said in a speech about race and politics in America at the National Constitution Centre
Addressing the issue of black/white relations in the US, Mr Obama said: "This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."
Mr Obama described the current US situation as "a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years".
"But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races," he said.
Mr Obama said Reverend Wright's remarks were not simply controversial but instead "they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic".
Flare-ups over race have dogged the campaign trail as Mr Obama battles for the Democratic nomination with New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who would be the first woman president.
They are vying for the right to face off against Republican candidate Senator John McCain in the November election.
The Obama campaign is worried the uproar over the pastor's comments could cost him support with white voters in states like Pennsylvania, which holds an important voting contest on April 22nd.
"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely," said Mr Obama.
But he said the snippets of Reverend Wright's sermons circulating on cable television and the web in recent days do not tell the whole story about Reverend Wright.
Last week, Geraldine Ferraro, a Hillary Clinton supporter and 1984 vice presidential candidate, attributed Mr Obama's lead in the Democratic race to his being black.
Mr Obama said the discussion of race took a divisive turn when it was implied "that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap".
Reuters/AP