Paul
Quinn College
Commencement
CeremoniesSaturday, May 2, 2015
·
Dr.
Sorrell, esteemed faculty, alumni and Class of 2015!—what an honor it is for me
to be with you today, your day of great achievement and celebration!
·
I bring you fond
greetings from CitySquare! We feel so
connected to you via our AmeriCorps program and Service Works VISTA. . .beyond
that Paul Quinn has gone above and beyond to support the Mayor’s Task Force on
Poverty over the past year—all of which makes us grateful for all of you.
·
A word of
personal privilege here: I love your
President! He works harder than anyone I
know; he is a gentle, encouraging soul, with steel in his backbone!
Don’t mess with his students or his faculty!
He has been a leader in resisting easy accommodation
while moving on to community building based on honest, clear dialog.
·
As students and
members of the “Quinnite Nation,” you have accomplished something very special: you have finished the course with diligence,
integrity and excellence. You should
feel very proud today, for that is how all of us feel about you and your
achievements. We salute you and we seek
to honor you!
Big Idea: It’s a good thing you are so well-prepared today, because our city and our nation and our world need you, your vision, your hard work and your courage possibly as never before!
1.
You’ve noticed, haven’t you, that as a people
we are facing a few problems today!
·
From
Trayvon Martin to Eric Garner to Levar Jones to Michael Brown to Freddie Gray
(this is just a few of the scores and scores of similar cases): US law
enforcement officers are killing our brothers and sisters without cause and in grave haste.
·
Young
black men are shot dead by police at 21 times the rate of young white men. Sunday School at the Central Dallas
Church—classes on how to handle police encounters!
·
Wise
persons understand that the seething anger, resentment and hopelessness that exploded this past week in
riots in Baltimore has been a long time coming.
·
Consider
just a few of the harsh “facts of life” in America today:
a.
The net worth of the average Black family in U. S.
today is $6,314; for white households it’s $110,500.
b.
U. S. has greater wealth gap by race than South
Africa did during apartheid—whites earn 18 times as much as African Americans;
in S. Africa in 1970 the ration was 15 to 1.
c.
The black-white income gap is 40% greater today than
in 1967.
d.
A black male born today in the U. S. has a life
expectancy 5 years shorter than a white male.
e.
The “war on drugs” has failed if the intention was
to end the use of drugs; instead it has led to mass incarceration—black men in
their 20s w/o a high school diploma are more likely to be incarcerated than
employed; nearly 70% of middle-aged black men who never graduated high school
have been imprisoned! The U. S.
imprisons a higher % of its black population than South Africa did during
apartheid.
f.
Following the horror of 9/11, Pamela Cantor, a child
psychiatrist studied the impact of the terror attack on NYC public school
children—the findings were amazing: they
found evidence of trauma, but not from the attack—20% experienced a full-blown
psychiatric disorder and 68% had experienced trauma sufficient to impair their
functioning at school.
The source of the trauma: neighborhoods surrounding the poorest inner
city schools—violence, inadequate housing, sudden family loss, parents with
depression/addictions, etc.
g.
The
data in Dallas is worse than Baltimore: 38% of our kids live in poverty; the
unemployment rate in southern Dallas is over 14% compared to 4% city wide; and
it’s worse in concentrated areas of poverty.
h.
I was moved by the words of one young
gang member in Baltimore as he spoke to older African American leaders, “You
don’t understand our struggle; our struggle is different from your struggle; we
don’t Dr. King or Malcolm. Our struggle
is different.”
Nicholas Kristof put it correctly this week: The real crisis isn’t one night of young men in the
street rioting. It’s something perhaps even more inexcusable — our own
complacency at the systematic long-term denial of equal opportunity to people
based on their skin color and ZIP code.
Just what you
want to hear on this day of celebration, right?
But, the fact
is, your time has come! You’re at the
front of the leadership line! We turn to
you to lead the battle for justice, reform and a better functioning democracy. It is your time!
2.
So what do you do? What will your consider as your plan of
action to redeem the nation once again?
a.
Embrace risk and failure—it’s the only way
anything changes!
--Rosa Parks
--Cesar Chavez
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
--Malcolm X
--Richard Allen
--Fall in love with swinging for the
fence without regard for success
b.
Engage your life
in the transformation of the world—get involved!
--Never sit out an election.
--Go to town hall meetings.
--Write Op-Ed pieces.
--Insist on accountability in your life
and in the lives of those who lead you.
--Mentor a child.
--Raise a child.
--Model for us all.
c.
Energize your soul.
--Continue learning—lifelong learners.
--Continue what you’ve begun here: grow, lead, reflect, exercise and battle.
--Establish “improbable friendships.”
--Bust the status quo.
--Dream daily.
--Find time to be quiet.
--Live the 4 Ls of Paul Quinn College:
Leave places better than you found them.
Lead from wherever you are.
Live a life that matters.
Love something greater than
yourself.
d.
Empty your treasure chest; pour it all out
as your offering to the betterment and beauty of God’s world.
--Invest in brokenness and in great
possibilities.
--Stand up for those on the margins.
--Give life all you’ve got and you’ll be
a world changer a day at a time.
--As Warrant Buffett said, “Predicting rain doesn’t count.
Building arks does.”
Conclusion
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