President Obama spoke Saturday at the commencement ceremony for historically black Howard University urging graduates to take action to cause change and defending his presidency.
“America is a better place today than it was when I graduated from college. Let me repeat, America, by almost every measure, is better than it as when I graduated from college,” Obama, who graduated from Columbia University in 1983, said. “It also happens to be better off than it was when I took office, which is a longer story. That’s a different discussion for another speech.”
Obama also noted that he believes race relations are also better in the U.S. since they were when he graduated college.
He said areas need improvement, such as the relationship between African-Americans and the police, the imprisonment of black men and the wage gap between black women and white men. But, he told the graduates that, given the choice, they would rather be black in America right now over any other time in the country’s history.
“I tell you all this because it’s important to note progress,” he said. “To deny how far we’ve come would do a disservice to the legions of foot soldiers (who came before).”
Obama told the graduates to “be confident in your heritage, be confident in your blackness.”
They should not feel entitled or approach life with an attitude, and should develop strategy for change and to be prepared to compromise to affect change, he said.
In the age of social media, it’s been easy for many to sit behind a computer or smartphone and feel they’re affecting the world, Obama said. He criticized the graduates, standing in for all young people, for the low voter turnout rate in the 2014 midterm elections and said that not having more young people vote hurt his ability to advance his agenda.
He called for “not just awareness, but action. Not just hashtags, but votes.”
People ask, “how come Obama didn’t get this done, how come he didn’t get that done,” Obama said. “You don’t think that would have made a difference? What if you had turned out at 50 percent of 60 percent all across this country?”
Politics can be simple, he said. “If you have more votes than the other guy, you get to do what you want.”
Obama also faulted the college “safe space” culture that has spread across many of the country’s campuses.
He told the graduates that in order to affect change they’re going to have to work with people who disagree with them. Shutting down people who they disagree is the wrong approach, he said.
“Don’t do that, no matter how ridiculous or offensive you might find the things that come out of their mouths,” he said. “Because as my grandmother used to tell me, every time a fool speaks they are just advertising their own ignorance. Let them talk, them talk. If you don’t, you just make them a victim and then they can avoid accountability.”
