Desmond Tutu says Americans need to address racial history during Flint speech

FLINT, Mich. (AP) -- The United States can benefit from researching and acknowledging past atrocities committed against blacks and American Indians, said South African Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"There is a pain that sits in the tummy of most African Americans and Native Americans, and maybe white Americans, that needs to be articulated in a non-threatening environment," Tutu said during a Wednesday lecture sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Tutu, 72, the former Anglican Archbishop of South Africa, was on the country's Truth in Reconciliation Commission, which researched 34 years of human rights violations against blacks under apartheid.

He said discriminating against gay people, who he believes do not choose to be gay anymore than people choose to be black, is no better than racism.