By IMTIYAZ H. DELAWALA

Special to the Crimson

WASHINGTON—Former President Bill Clinton urged the media to address issues of racial disparity and divisions in the United States in order to set an example for a more interdependent global society during a speech at a Kennedy School of Government luncheon yesterday.

The speech, part of the Shorenstein Center’s conference on race and the media, was Clinton’s first in Washington since leaving office in January, and was attended by more than 300 members of the local and national media, as well as former members of the Clinton administration.

“I am glad, I think, to be back,” Clinton joked to the gathering, volunteering to take a question from longtime White House reporter Helen Thomas.

“I do that because I know no one cares what my answers are,” Clinton added.

After the morning panels featuring prominent local and national journalists and Harvard scholars who deal with issues of race and the press, Clinton spoke more broadly about race relations in a global context, stressing the global nature of the modern world.

“When we think about the state of race relations in America today, we have to look back to our past, look at our diversity and understand where we are going in the context of an increasingly interdependent world,” Clinton said.