ATLANTA (AP) President Joe Biden on Sunday offered his most direct recognition of U.S. students anguish over the Israel-Hamas war , telling graduates of historically Black Morehouse College that he heard their voices of protest and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza break his heart, too.

I support peaceful nonviolent protest, he told students at the all-male college, some of whom wore Palestinian scarves known as keffiyehs around their shoulders on top of their black graduation gowns. Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them.

Biden said theres a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, thats why Ive called for an immediate cease-fire to stop the fighting and bring home hostages still being held by Hamas after its militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The presidents comments came near the end of a commencement address in which he also reflected on American democracy and his role in safeguarding it.

Its one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world, Biden said. Theres nothing easy about it. I know it angers and frustrates many of you, including my family. But most of all I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well.

To date, Biden had limited his public comments around the protests on U.S. college campuses to upholding the right to peaceful protest.

The speech and one hes giving later Sunday in Detroit is part of a burst of outreach to Black constituents by the Democratic president, whose support among these voters has softened since their strong backing helped put him in the Oval Office.

Biden spent much of the approximately 30-minute speech focused on the problems at home. He condemned Donald Trumps rhetoric on immigrants and noted that the class of 2024 entered college during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the murder of George Floyd , a Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer. Biden said it was natural for them, and others, to wonder whether the democracy you hear about actually works for you.

If Black men are being killed in the street. What is democracy? he asked. The trail of broken promises that still leave Black communities behind. What is democracy? If you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot.