Former President Barack Obama delivered a rousing commencement speech on Saturday to graduates of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) urging them to “have a vision that isn’t clouded by cynicism or fear.”
Obama’s comments sparked national headlines and widespread attention. His remarks came amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many HBCUs — and other colleges and universities across the nation — to postpone or hold virtual ceremonies two months after the health crisis gained a foothold in the United States.
During the two-hour “Show Me Your Walk HBCU Edition” virtual ceremony — the brainchild of Dr. Michael J. Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College — Obama took a jab at the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. As of mid-May, the pandemic has resulted in the deaths of nearly 90,000 Americans.
“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’re doing,” said Obama. “A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge.”
He challenged the graduates to “seize the initiative” and to speak out against inequities in society, like the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbury, an unarmed Black man who was shot to death by two White men while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia back in February.
“Injustice like this isn’t new,” Obama told the more than 27,000 HBCU graduates who earned their degrees this year from public and private Black colleges. “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 don’t work; and that it doesn’t matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick; that our society and democracy only works when we think not just about ourselves, but about each other.”
Obama’s message resonated with graduates like Tytiana Christmas, a computer engineering major at Virginia State University who earned her degree over the weekend.
