Protestors holding a banner reading ‘What about the black community Obama?’ have heckled Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Florida.
Three men stood up as Senator Obama was talking about the economy during a town hall meeting in St Petersburg, a key battleground state in Mr Obama's duel with Republican John McCain in November's election.
‘What about the black community?’ the protestors chanted, prompting Mr Obama's crowd of supporters to chant his slogan ‘Yes We Can’ to drown them out.
‘Excuse me, young man, this is going to be a question and answer session, so you can ask a question later,’ Mr Obama told the protestors.
‘Sit down. You'll have a chance to ask your questions, but you don't want to disrupt the whole meeting. Just be courteous,’ he said, before going back to his prepared remarks.
Mr Obama garnered huge support among African American voters during his Democratic primary campaign against Hillary Clinton.
But last month, civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, in a remark picked up by a live television microphone, accused Mr Obama of talking down to black people, reviving the debate about race in the 2008 campaign.
Senator Obama, son of a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, has made a concerted attempt to ensure that he is not perceived solely as a black candidate during his campaign, even though he is trying to become the first African-American president.
Yesterday, the McCain campaign accused Senator Obama of playing the race card himself after the Illinois senator said Republicans would try to highlight the fact that he did not look like other presidents featured on US dollar bills.
