The racial insult that led to the firing of radio host Don Imus is symptomatic of a nation where “opportunity isn’t equal,” John Edwards said at a fund-raiser last night for the Reverend Al Sharpton.

“I think some people really believe that all you have to do to succeed in this country is pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard,” the former North Carolina senator and presidential candidate said in prepared remarks at Rev. Sharpton’s invitation-only Keepers of the Dream VIP Reception. “Well, I can tell you, I have traveled all over this country and I have been in the places where people’s bootstraps are worn to a thread from all the pulling they’ve been doing.”

Mr. Edwards joined politicians, corporate executives, and civic leaders yesterday at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown for the opening day of Rev. Sharpton’s four-day National Action Network Conference.

The 2008 Democratic presidential candidates, including Senators Clinton and Obama, also are scheduled to address the conference.

Mr. Edwards’s Democratic running mate in the 2004 presidential race, Senator Kerry, said this week that Mr. Imus’s firing was “unfair,” but Mr. Edwards told Rev. Sharpton’s gathering he thought it was “astonishing that there was even a debate” over the remarks.

Mr. Edwards announced several weeks ago that he would continue his presidential run despite the recurrence of his wife’s cancer.