Sutherland: Two Different Commencements, Two Different Countries.

Recently, one of the speakers at Harvard University’s commencement exercises caused a nationwide sensation…  

A young African-American man from North Carolina named Donovan Livingston, who was receiving his masters degree from the School of Education, recited a “word poem” known as “Lift Off!”

In this address, Livingston spoke of the liberating potential of education.  The reaction online, where both a live clip of his remarks, as well as its text,were posted on numerous websites, was overwhelming.

CNN called it, “one of the most moving and meaningful graduation moments of all times.”  Harvard’s own website described it as, “One of the most powerful heartfelt speeches you will ever hear.”

The story went viral with hundreds of thousands of hits.  The comments on the various sites where the video of his speech was posted were overwhelmingly favorable.  Many said Livingston was destined to be president, so forceful was his rhetoric.

I read his speech with great interest and watched the video.

And to me, the content seemed commonplace for the genre;

“We were born to be comets!” – “I belong among the stars.  And so do you.” – “ I teach of turning content into rocket ships – tribulations into telescopes” – “Together we can inspire galaxies of greatness for generations to come.” – “No, sky is not the limit.  It is only the beginning.  Lift off.”

I was puzzled by the rapturous response to this collection of platitudes of the “Follow that Dream!” variety, which are standard issue for graduation speeches.  Even the usual fawning attitude by white liberals towards blacks couldn’t account for the enthusiasm it was met with.

I studied the remarks more closely and the reason became obvious.

It contained the sure fire appeal to the white liberal guilt complex.  Mr. Livingston quotes Horace Mann (very effectively I admit); “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin,is a great equalizer of the conditions of men.”

He points out that in 1848, when those words were written, it was a capital crime in some parts of the American South to teach slaves to read and write.

No one can or should deny the force of this argument.  The problem is that Mr. Livingston would have us believe that nothing has changed since then, particularly in American higher education!

He says, “For some, the only difference between a classroom and a plantation is time.”  He makes the obligatory lynching reference; “I am the strange fruit that grew too ripe for the poplar tree,” an allusion to Billie Holiday’s song about lynching.

Mr. Livingston said today’s educators are guilty of raising their voices over the “rustling of our chains.” Continuing the celestial metaphor, he refers to “the same twinkle that guided Harriet to freedom.” (February is Black History month, so you get extra points for catching the Harriet Tubman reference).

Maybe you didn’t realize today’s educators keep young African-Americans under “lock and key,” held slave to “standardized assessments.”  It’s an injustice for teachers to tell them they are stars without “acknowledging night” (racism?) “surrounds them.”

The educational establishment (Harvard? Columbia? University of North Carolina?) needs to “uncuff us,” so they can be, “Unencumbered by the lumbering weight of poverty and privilege, policy and ignorance.”

Don’t think, cracker, you can get off the hook by talk of “Diversity. Inclusion.”

Mr. Donovan is sick of you institutional racists in the educational establishment treating him as a token, to fill quotas.  You see he’s here now, demanding (not asking!) justice, with his “veins pumping revolution,” “A lonely blossom in a briar patch of broken promises.”

But then again he’s “always been a thorn in the side of injustice.”

Mr. Livingston has a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina, a master’s degree from Columbia University, and now a master’s degree from Harvard.  He is getting his PhD in education and plans to follow in both his parents’ footsteps as educators, either as a teacher or an administrator.  I fully understand the depth of his anger and bitterness, given how much he’s been held back by a sick, racist society.

By chance, there was another graduation story that appeared at the same time as the one about Donovan Livingston.  It involved a West Point cadet, 2^nd Lieutenant Alex Schoelcher Idrache, who was photographed with tears of emotion streaming down his cheeks during the graduation ceremony.

Lt. Idrache grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  He recalls seeing American troops providing humanitarian relief there as a child.  He first dreamed of becoming a helicopter pilot at that time, knowing it was a dream that couldn’t be fulfilled there.

When Lt. Idrache immigrated to the U.S. in 2009, he spoke only basic English.  (He joined his father who came earlier to get work here to give his family a better chance in life.)  Lt. Idrache joined the Maryland National Guard and was encouraged by his superiors there to apply to the U.S. Military Academy.  He was West Point’s top graduate in Physics this year.  He will attend the Army helicopter training school at Ft. Rucker.

When his picture appeared on Facebook he explained he’d been overcome with emotion at having attained a long held dream.  He said; “Thank you for giving me a shot at the American Dream, and may God Bless America, the greatest country on earth!”