Obama: US in 'better place' than when he graduated college

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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."

[...] 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.

Rhimes is the executive producer of television hits "Scandal" and "Grey's Anatomy," which air on Thursdays.

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.

Obama, 54, opened by telling the graduates that most of them were just starting high school when he was first elected in 2008.

Obama is set to speak May 15 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and June 2 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.