Former President Barack Obama gave the virtual commencement
address at a ceremony for graduates of historically black colleges and
universities on Saturday, May 16, 2020. The two-hour event, “Show Me Your Walk H.B.C.U.
Edition” celebrated more than 27,000 students from 78 schools.
Here are Mr Obama’s remarks in full:
Hi, everybody. Congratulations to H.B.C.U. class of 2020.
Michelle and I are so proud of you.
Graduating from college is a big achievement under any
circumstances. Therefore, many of you overcame a lot to get here. You navigated
challenging classes and challenges outside the classroom. Many of you had to
stretch to afford tuition. In addition, some of you are the first in your families
to reach this milestone.
So even if half of this semester was spent at Zoom
University, you have earned this moment. You should be very proud. Everybody
who supported you along the way is proud of you — parents, grandparents,
professors, mentors, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, second
cousins, and cousins who you are not even sure are cousins. Show them some
gratitude today.
Now look, I know this is not the commencement you imagined.
Because while our H.B.C.U.s is mostly known for an education rooted in
academic rigour, community, and higher purpose — they also know how to turn up.
Nobody shines quite like a senior on the yard in springtime. Springfest at
schools like Howard and Morehouse is the time when you get to strut your stuff
a little bit. And I know that in normal times, rivals like Grambling and
Southern, Jackson State and Tennessee State, might raise some eyebrows at
sharing a graduation ceremony.
Pandemic and terrible
recession. The timing is not ideal. Moreover, let us be honest — a disease like
this just spotlight the underlying inequalities and extra burdens that black
communities have historically had to deal with in this country. We see it in
the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our communities, just as we see it
when a black man goes for a jog, and some folks feel like they can stop and
question and shoot him if he does not submit to their questioning.
Injustice like this is not new. What is new is that so much
of your generation has woken up to the fact that the status quo needs fixing;
that the old ways of doing things do not work; that it doesn’t matter how much
the money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick; and that our society and
democracy only works when we think not just about ourselves, but about each
other.
More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn
back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they
are doing. A lot of them are not even pretending to be in charge.
If the world is going to get better, it is going to be up to
you. With everything suddenly feeling like up for grabs, this is your time to
seize the initiative. Nobody can tell you anymore that you should be waiting for
your turn. Nobody can tell you anymore “this is how it’s always been done.”
More than ever, this is your moment — your generation’s world to shape.
In taking on this responsibility, I hope you are bold. I
hope you have a vision that is not clouded by cynicism or fear. As young
African Americans, you have been exposed, earlier than some, to the world as it
is. However, as young H.B.C.U. graduates, your education has also shown you the
world as it ought to be.
Many of you could have attended any school in this country. However,
you chose an H.B.CU. — Specifically, because it would help you sow seeds of
change. You chose to follow in the fearless footsteps of people who shook the
system to its core — civil rights icons like Thurgood Marshall and Dr King,
storytellers like Toni Morrison and Spike Lee. You chose to study medicine at
Meharry, and engineering at NC A&T, because you want to lead and serve.
In addition, I am here to tell you that you made a good
choice. Whether you realize it or not, you do have more road maps, more role
models, and more resources than the civil rights generation did. You have more
tools, technology, and talents than my generation did. No generation has been
better positioned to be warriors for justice and remake the world.
Now, I am not going to tell you what to do with all that
power that is in your hands. Many of you are already using it so well to create
change. Nevertheless, let me offer three pieces of advice as you continue on
your journey.
First, make sure you ground yourself in actual communities
with real people — working at the grass-roots level. The fight for equality and
justice begins with awareness, empathy, passion, even righteous anger. Do not
just activate yourself online. Change requires strategy, action, organizing,
marching, and voting in the real world like never before. No one is better
positioned than this class of graduates to take that activism to the next
level. And from tackling health disparities to fighting for criminal justice
and voting rights, so many of you are already doing this. Keep ongoing.
Second, you cannot do it alone. Meaningful change requires
allies in common cause. As African Americans, we are particularly attuned to
injustice, inequality, and struggle. However, that also should make us more
alive to the experiences of others who have been left out and discriminated
against.
So rather than say what is in it for me or what is in it for
my community and to heck with everyone else, stand up for and join up with
everyone who is struggling — whether immigrants, refugees, the rural poor, the
L.G.B.T.Q. community, low-income workers of every background, women who so
often are subject to their own discrimination and burdens and not getting equal
pay for equal work; lookout for folks whether they are white or black or Asian
or Latino or Native American. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “nobody’s free
until everybody’s free.”
On the big unfinished goals in this country, like economic
and environmental justice and health care for everybody, broad majorities agree
on the ends. That is why folks with power will keep trying to divide you over
the means. Because that is how nothing changes. You get a system that looks out
for the rich and powerful and nobody else. To expand your moral imaginations,
build bridges, and grow your allies in the process of bringing about a better
world.
Finally, as H.B.C.U. graduates, you have to remember that
you are inheritors of one of America’s proudest traditions. Which means you are
all role models now — whether you like it or not. Your participation in this
democracy, your courage to stand up for what’s right, your willingness to forge
coalitions — these actions will speak volumes. In addition, if you are
inactive, that will speak volumes. Not just to the young folks coming up behind
you — but to your parents, your peers, and the rest of the country. They need
to see your leadership — you are the folks we have been waiting for to come
along.
You hold that power. The power to shine brightly for
justice, for equality, and for joy. You have earned your degree. Moreover, it
is up to you to use it. So many of us believe in you. I am so proud of you. As
you set out to change the world, we will be the wind at your back.
Congratulations Class of 2020 and God bless you all!
59 Minutes is a blogger at SHADOW NEWS, specializing in politics, internet culture and propaganda, as well as
writing about climate change and other things science-related. Shadow News is the platform where tomorrow is realized. An essential source of
information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation.
©2020Shadow News. All Rights Reserved.
©2020Shadow News. All Rights Reserved.
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