Today In History: Obama Speaks To Howard Grads; Bernie Sanders Criticizes Trump, Greed

May 9, 2017, is the 129th day of the year, with 236 days remaining. The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase, and illumination is at 98 percent.

(Stay on top of all breaking White House news by signing up for the free Patch morning newsletter. Like the White House Patch Facebook Page, follow us on Twitter or sign up to comment on the site.)

Obama to Howard University grads: “Be confident in your blackness”

In his 2016 commencement address to graduating students at Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama urged the graduates to continue their push for change, praising the university as “a centerpiece of African-American intellectual life.”

He told the graduates to “be confident in your blackness.”

“We have cousins and uncles and brothers and sisters who we remember were just as smart and just as talented as we were but somehow got ground down by structures that were unfair and unjust,” the president continued, encouraging the graduating class to not only question the world as it is but to also “stand up for those African-Americans who haven’t been so lucky.”

Bernie Sanders takes aim at Trump during Atlantic City rally

That same year, former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took aim at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and billionaire Carl Icahn during an appearance in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sanders cited the state of Atlantic City’s casinos as an encapsulation of the greed that is a national problem in America.

Four casinos closed in 2014, leaving about 8,000 people out of work. Three casinos once had Trump’s name on them, and he filed a lawsuit to have his name removed from the buildings once he sold them.

After Sanders’ rally, Icahn issued a statement to counter the Vermont senator, shifting blame to Unite Here, the Atlantic City union, alleging that Unite Here had “squeezed the city’s most important employers.”

For more American history, Patch has you covered.

Photo credit: Michael Vadon via Flickr