Essex County College
Graduation Address
May 15, 2015
Congratulations to the Class of
2015, and to your many family members, friends and well-wishers! Congratulations to the faculty and
administration of the college for bringing another cohort of aspirants to this
hallowed threshold.
This day of commencement is a new
beginning, evidence of hope not just for you, but for all of us too.
What a singular joy it is for me
to be here with you to share in the moment. For this I owe a special “thank
you” to President Gibson and the Board of Trustees.
By now I’ve become an old hand in
academia, yet no matter how many I experience, I relish Commencements every
season. Year after year, there is a fresh and vibrant feeling in the air.
We’re excited about our graduates
in the church; they’re moving on to some new chapter, so new adventure. And truth be told, we are excited not
merely for their achievement, but because, in a very real way they are taking
at least a little piece of us with them wherever they go!
We know that graduation is for the
graduates, but it is just as much for the coterie of people around them who
supported, cajoled nagged and rooted for them and wouldn’t allow them to give
up!
We feel that connection in the
church; it’s palpable this year as Jared marches at Bowdoin and Isis at St.
John and RJ at High Point and Austin at Oberlin and Jaia at Essex County
College! We feel the connection
because we march with them.
I often wonder why we are so
passionate. Its’ one thing to clap and yell when they walk across this stage to
receive their hard-won diplomas, but I wonder why we CRY! I don’t mean “tear up”, I mean boohoo!
Coming here today forced me to
ponder this more deeply. Because I know enough about the road many of you have
travelled…how long it has taken…how much you have fought off the temptation to
quit…and how broke it has left you. All of this makes our exhilaration even
louder, more demonstrative and more heart felt.
Because we know your journey, you
kindle our hope. This day appeared improbable for some of you not so long ago;
yet it has come true! You kindle our hope for a future that too often feels
illusive or distant. You show us, by your stride toward higher goals, that so
much of what we are led to believe is not meant to be, is indeed close at hand.
So 2015! You are lifting us up.
You’re lifting us up onto your shoulders, and you’re doing it just when we need
it most—just when we have cause to wonder if our forebears have struggled,
sacrificed, even died in vain.
Baltimore today is Newark just two
generations ago. The sources of
the peoples’ anguish, frustration and lost hope then, is perilously the same as
it is now. It is not a mystery: It is in plain sight: What threatens to crush our dreams is economic,
social and cultural isolation, accompanied by utter disregard for the fundamental
humanity of human beings that have been pushed to the edge of existence.
This, and the pathologies spawned by
the disappearance of jobs…and the dwindling capacity to compete for the new
kinds of jobs if they come, have brought us to this time and place. Then, there is the virus that threatens
finally to undo the nation—racism, and the pernicious myth of white supremacy.
The fact that the virus is real and
appears to be spreading should not be a recipe for disillusionment or
pessimism. Instead, it should be an inspiration, and it should help to define
the unfinished work we look to this graduating class to help lead. In “Ella’s Song”, performed by Sweet Honey In the Rock in honor of the venerable Ella Baker, mother of SNCC and an icon in the Black
freedom struggle, the lyrics say, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until
it comes.” Soberly, I confess it is the same charge passed to preceding
generations who must confront the same world. It is not an easy charge. It has never been easy. Bigotry is
a tough and unwieldy stain on America’s best ideals.
But you are tougher. I know this
because you are graduating from Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey!
You’ve shown that you have the right stuff—that you are “faster than a speeding
bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and can leap tall buildings in a
single bound!”—that SUPERMAN NOR SUPERWOMAN HAS ANYTHING ON YOU!
And as we say in the church,
quoting Luke, the gospel writer, “to whom much is given, much is expected”. So
with your great, not-yet-fully-realized power, I implore you not merely to
continue your formal education, which is always a good thing, or to go out and
find a better job or career or to seek a promotion. Dare also to fight for MLK’s “Revolution of Values”. Resolve to uproot “the giant triplets
of racism, materialism, and
militarism”…”to redeem the soul of America” by remaking post-Industrial cities
like this one, and the many others across this nation, into places of peace and
redemption, where human fulfillment can be a realistic option for all; where
all lives matter—Black, Brown, Red, Yellow and White; boys and girls, women and
men, gay and straight, people of every faith and no faith, penniless and rich.
Our hope in you is not frivolous; it is not casual. We simply
refuse to live without hope, and you represent our best hope. We place this
mantel on your shoulders in no small part because I dare say you have spent at
least a minute or two in the valley of life. You know the valley is dark, that uncertainty
looms there along with doubt and the prospect of complete failure.
But today, despite it all, by the grace of God, we count you
VICTORIOUS!
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