17:21

In his commencement address to Howard University graduates on Saturday, Barack Obama made specific mention of a new generation of black activists, including those involved in Black Lives Matter and “black Twitter”, for raising national awareness over inequality in the criminal justice system.

After seven years, Barack Obama is in his last months in the White House. When he leaves, nothing will be the same. For black people, nothing will be resolvedRead more

His praise came with a series of suggestions about how activists could most easily create actual change: through electoral politics and compromise.

“To bring about structural change, lasting change, awareness is not enough,” Obama said. “It requires changes in law, changes in custom.”

Obama stressed the need for willingness to sit at the table with opponents and openness to imperfect victories in his address to the historically black university in Washington DC.

“You consolidate your gains and then you move on to the next fight from a stronger position,” he said.

For many of the activists Obama appeared to be addressing, the advice was welcome but not necessarily new. According to Brittany Packnett, whom Obama mentioned by name, it is what many in the movement “have been advocating for from the start”.