Obama says US is ‘better place’ than when he graduated

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama said Saturday that the country is “a better place today” than when he graduated from college more than 30 years ago, citing his historic election as “one indicator of how attitudes have changed.”

But gaps persist, he told Howard University’s Class of 2016, citing racism and inequality as examples.

In a commencement speech at one of the nation’s leading historically black schools, Obama said there were no black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and few black judges when Columbia University awarded him a bachelor’s degree in 1983.

“A lot of folks didn’t even think blacks had the tools to be a quarterback,” Obama said. “When I was graduating, the main black hero on TV was Mr. T. Rap and hip-hop were counterculture, underground. Now Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night and Beyonce runs the world.” Rhimes is the executive producer of television hits “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” which air Thursdays.

Today, he said, “We’re no longer entertainers. We’re producers, studio executives. No longer small-business owners, we’re CEOs. We’re mayors, representatives” – and someone in the crowd shouted out, “President.”

“I’m not saying gaps do not persist. Obviously, they do,” Obama said. “Racism persists; inequality persists.”

He called on the university’s 2,300 graduates to step up and take on the work of closing those gaps.

He cited income inequality, an issue in the presidential campaign to choose his successor in November, as well as disparities in unemployment, pay and criminal justice. He also listed disease and conflict worldwide, along with terrorism and climate change as other issues needing attention.

Obama told the graduates to be confident and embrace being African-American and all that it entails, including “our particular awareness of injustice and unfairness and struggle. That means we cannot sleepwalk through life. We cannot be ignorant of history. We cannot meet the world with a sense of entitlement.”