Unlimited Potential In A World of Infinite Possibilities

You'll never know how hurt I am that I didn't do the speech for the 2009 Black Celeb graduation at the University of Michigan. I wrote a speech, competed, but never got a chance to find out if I would have been selected. There are only a handful of people who've seen me do the speech, and fewer who've read it.

Take a look and imagine what could have been.

We Made It! Congratulations UofM Class of 2009, we have officially made it. But it is not just that we made it through our trials and tribulations at this prestigious university, but the fact that in this feat, we each have added to the rich history that African-Americans continue to make in this world of infinite possibility. As we stand here in the footsteps of history, I want to remind everyone that tonight it is our individual dreams in the face of struggle and self doubt that allows us to expand the opportunities of what is truly possible. A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Boston, Massachusetts; the former stomping grounds of Malcolm X, and the place where the American Revolution began. As I traveled throughout the city taking in many of the sites of American history, I was in awe of the spirit of American democracy and what its promise must have meant in the minds of its founders and our ancestors in bondage. As my sight seeing tour approached the Boston Harbor, the very site of the Boston Tea Party, I noticed a modern symbol of our unlimited potential in the face of struggle and oppression. At this site where Crispus Attucks died for American freedom while chattel slavery was practiced throughout the thirteen colonies, now stood posters of the first African American President. The election of President Barack Obama and our triumphs today are based squarely on the dreams of our ancestors and the potential we have in spite of the despair we may face. The history of African-Americans in the United States can be defined by our collective struggle for acceptance and our dreams of equality. Our people struggled before they were taken from the continent of Africa and struggled against the brutality of slavery in the new world. While Blacks the world over fought to be recognized as human beings, they knew that one day a change would come.

Today, as we sit here in the Hill Auditorium, it is our duty to become that change and inspire those who follow behind us. And while we may not know what the future has in store for us after we leave the University of Michigan, we do know that our struggles have prepared us for achievements far greater than even we may imagine. Our struggles for the past four years have prepared us for the coming victories of our individual endeavors. We struggled to get up for 8 A.M. language classes, we’ve struggled to make Michigan Time walking from the MLB to Dennison. We’ve struggled on all of those cold, -15 degree days. We’ve struggled with Financial Aid, Financial Holds, Academic Holds, and Library Holds all while trying to hold on our dream to graduate. We’ve struggled to see the finish line from the start of Freshmen year to the end of that third year, that forth year, that fifth year, or for some of us beyond. And throughout this struggle, we’ve went to Poetry Slams, made and lost Facebook Friends, laughed through “Images” shows and cried on the night Proposal 2 passed. And let me add, that when our first Black President of the United States was elected, not only were we in the streets celebrating that night but in class bright and early the next day. We’ve partied on Sunday nights and woke up just in time for Monday morning classes because we didn’t have any more unexcused absences.

And even through our struggles, we’ve learned from our mistakes in order to persevere. And now Class of 2009, we’ve made it to this moment! Yet this moment does not mark the end of the story but the beginning of a new chapter. It has been these struggles and the strength it took to overcome them that have prepared us to create the possibility to challenge the present and enrich the future. It is our dreams and potential that moves us closer to the infinite possibilities of what lies ahead. It is the dream of a boy from the Eastside of Detroit to become a lawyer and work to develop communities, the dream of a girl from Syracuse to become an audiologist and provide health care to the millions of people uninsured, it is the dream of a boy from a small town in Michigan that aspires to make blockbuster films, and to all of us who know where we’re going (and to those of us who don’t) that seek to change the world in which we live and we now stand in the moment to do so. As we prepare to go our separate ways I ask that you use the inequity of the past & present to power our dreams and light the paths towards the futures.