Obama’s personal message to Morehouse grads, black men
Over the weekend, the first black President of the United States landed in, arguably, the capital of black America to speak at the commencement of the nation’s only institution of higher learning dedicated to educating black men. The occasion was a unique opportunity to address issues facing black males in America and was indeed a rousing call to action.
I was a little nervous when President Obama was announced as Morehouse College’s commencement speaker this year. The college had long wanted the first black President to grace the campus - providing some connection between his legacy and the school’s mission of producing servant-leaders - but as an alumnus, my excitement for his visit was mixed with trepidation.
WATCH THE SPEECH BELOW:
The truth is: Obama doesn’t always get it right when speaking to black audiences. In fact, the President has made it a habit of missing the mark whenever he stands in front of mostly black crowds, so I held my breath waiting for what I just
knew
would be a sermon on personal responsibility. It’s been B.O.’s M.O. for a few years now. It was there when he
black men on fatherhood, addressed the NAACP in
and again in
. Without follow-up speeches to the NAACP over the past two years, my biggest fear was that this moment would be his tour de force – a message
to
the white electorate
through
black Americans.
As expected, President Obama launched into his black minister voice (the one he reserves for NAACP conventions and campaign stops at Baptist churches,) but what he offered, while neither perfect nor comprehensive, was decidedly different than past speeches and worth highlighting.
With all the references to my alma mater aside, the speech felt personal. Perhaps it was the thunder and rain, punctuating the moment. Maybe the ministerial tone was finally getting to me, but I believed him. For a little over 30 minutes, Obama spoke on something meaningful and worth that special commencement moment - the weight of being a black man in America. He encouraged the new graduates to “stay hungry" and “keep hustling” with the sincerity of someone that we know has had to do both.
And it was a different message than the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” nonsense usually spouted at black men, words that would have amounted to singing to the choir at one of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges. Instead, Obama’s words were the kind shared between brothers across this country every day. He acknowledged the challenges ahead while encouraging those young men to hold steadfast to the will and connectedness that got them to that milestone – all the while pulling from shining examples among the graduates.
News outlets are already framing the speech in terms of Obama’s
of excuses, his
on family values. Those themes were in there but the most salient one was that the most recent graduates of Morehouse College are obligated to transform the broken society they’re entering- not despite expectations - but because, as educated black men, they’re uniquely qualified to do so.
“Your experiences give you special insight that today’s leaders need,” Obama said. “If you tap into that experience, it should endow you with empathy -- the understanding of what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, to know what it’s like when you're not born on 3rd base, thinking you hit a triple. It should give you the ability to connect. It should give you a sense of compassion and what it means to overcome barriers.”
But again, what gave Obama’s address to the 2013 graduating class of Morehouse College special resonance was its earnest encouragement. There were moments of connection that I don’t remember being present in his previous speeches to black audiences. For once, his testimony made his message tangible.
He said, “ I will tell you, Class of 2013, whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy -- the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had -- because there but for the grace of God, go I -- I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.”
The full transcript of Obama’s speech can be found
.