(CNN) Is it still okay to quote Atticus Finch even though he turned out to be a racist?

Barack Obama says yes. He did it in his farewell address, a thoughtful speech by the first black president, who will hand over the White House in ten days to Donald Trump, who as a candidate excited white nationalists.

When Obama pointed out that ten-day timeline, drawing boos from the audience, he argued it is a "hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected president to the next."

That's as difficult for some Democrats and Obama supporters to stomach as the news that Finch was not always to be the near-perfect father and role model of the classic novel.

It was after talking about the need to protect anti-discrimination laws that he mentioned Finch, the fallen hero of Harper Lee's classic novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," who turned into a crotchety old racist of 2015's " Go Set a Watchman ." That book was billed as a sequel, but turned out to be a first draft. It depicts Finch having attended KKK meetings and saying to his daughter , "Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?"

'Last Days of the Obama White House' Watch CNN Films' premiere of its documentary, "The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House," Wed. Jan. 18, at 9p ET/PT on CNN.

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