“Be Confident in your Heritage” – Barack Obama’s Commencement Speech at Howard University Praises Shonda Rhimes and Beyonce

President Barack Obama was at the Howard University Graduation and in his commencement speech, he gave an uplifting talk to the graduating students.He also urged the crowd to take political action, “empathize with all people are struggling,” and “compromise, even when you are 100 percent right.” He also said “I love you back” to the crowd.

He said, “Be confident in your heritage. Be confident in your blackness. One of the great changes that’s occurred in our country since I was your age is the realization there’s no one way to be black. Take it from somebody who’s seen both sides of debate about whether I’m black enough. In the past couple months, I’ve had lunch with the Queen of England and hosted Kendrick Lamar in the Oval Office. There’s no straitjacket, there’s no constraints, there’s no litmus test for authenticity.

“When I was graduating, the main black hero on TV was Mr. T,” Obama said to the graduates. “Rap and hip hop were counterculture, underground. Now,Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night, and Beyoncé runs the world.”

Watch the video here!