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  • The President: Hello, Morehouse!

  • (applause)

  • Thank you, everybody.

  • Please be seated.

  • Audience Member: I love you!

  • The President: I love you back.

  • (laughter)

  • That is why I am here.

  • I have to say that it is one of the great honors of my life to

  • be able to address this gathering here today.

  • I want to thank Dr. Wilson for his outstanding leadership,

  • and the Board of Trustees.

  • We have Congressman Cedric Richmond and Sanford Bishop --

  • both proud alumni of this school,

  • as well as Congressman Hank Johnson.

  • And one of my dear friends and a great inspiration to us all --

  • the great John Lewis is here.

  • (applause)

  • We have your outstanding Mayor, Mr. Kasim Reed, in the house.

  • (applause)

  • To all the members of the Morehouse family.

  • And most of all, congratulations to this distinguished group of

  • Morehouse Men -- the Class of 2013.

  • (applause)

  • I have to say that it's a little hard to follow -- not

  • Dr. Wilson, but a skinny guy with a funny name.

  • (laughter)

  • Betsegaw Tadele -- he's going to be doing something.

  • I also have to say that you all are going to get wet.

  • (laughter)

  • And I'd be out there with you if I could.

  • (laughter)

  • But Secret Service gets nervous.

  • (laughter)

  • So I'm going to have to stay here, dry.

  • (laughter)

  • But know that I'm there with you in spirit.

  • (laughter)

  • Some of you are graduating summa cum laude.

  • (applause)

  • Some of you are graduating magna cum laude.

  • (applause)

  • I know some of you are just graduating, "thank you, Lordy."

  • (laughter and applause)

  • That's appropriate because it's a Sunday.

  • (laughter)

  • I see some moms and grandmas here, aunts,

  • in their Sunday best -- although they are upset about their hair

  • getting messed up.

  • (laughter)

  • Michelle would not be sitting in the rain.

  • (laughter)

  • She has taught me about hair.

  • (laughter)

  • I want to congratulate all of you -- the parents,

  • the grandparents, the brothers and sisters,

  • the family and friends who supported these young men

  • in so many ways.

  • This is your day, as well.

  • Just think about it -- your sons, your brothers,

  • your nephews -- they spent the last four years far from home

  • and close to Spelman, and yet they are still here today.

  • (applause)

  • So you've done something right.

  • Graduates, give a big round of applause to your family

  • for everything that they've done for you.

  • (applause)

  • I know that some of you had to wait in long lines to get into

  • today's ceremony.

  • And I would apologize, but it did not have anything to

  • do with security.

  • Those graduates just wanted you to know what it's like to

  • register for classes here.

  • (laughter and applause)

  • And this time of year brings a different kind of stress --

  • every senior stopping by Gloster Hall over the past week making

  • sure your name was actually on the list of students who

  • met all the graduation requirements.

  • (applause)

  • If it wasn't on the list, you had to figure out why.

  • Was it that library book you lent to that trifling roommate

  • who didn't return it?

  • (laughter)

  • Was it Dr. Johnson's policy class?

  • (applause)

  • Did you get enough Crown Forum credits?

  • (applause)

  • On that last point, I'm going to exercise my power as President

  • to declare this speech sufficient Crown Forum

  • credits for any otherwise eligible student to graduate.

  • That is my graduation gift to you.

  • (applause)

  • You have a special dispensation.

  • Now, graduates, I am humbled to stand here with all of you as an

  • honorary Morehouse Man.

  • (applause)

  • I finally made it.

  • (laughter)

  • And as I do, I'm mindful of an old saying: "You can always tell

  • a Morehouse Man -- (applause)

  • -- but you can't tell him much."

  • (applause)

  • And that makes my task a little more difficult, I suppose.

  • But I think it also reflects the sense of pride that's

  • always been part of this school's tradition.

  • Benjamin Mays, who served as the president of Morehouse for

  • almost 30 years, understood that tradition better than anybody.

  • He said -- and I quote -- "It will not be sufficient for

  • Morehouse College, for any college, for that matter,

  • to produce clever graduates...

  • but rather honest men, men who can be trusted in public and

  • private life -- men who are sensitive to the wrongs,

  • the sufferings, and the injustices of society

  • and who are willing to accept responsibility for

  • correcting (those) ills."

  • It was that mission -- not just to educate men,

  • but to cultivate good men, strong men,

  • upright men -- that brought community leaders together

  • just two years after the end of the Civil War.

  • They assembled a list of 37 men, free blacks and freed slaves,

  • who would make up the first prospective class of what

  • later became Morehouse College.

  • Most of those first students had a desire to become teachers and

  • preachers -- to better themselves so they could

  • help others do the same.

  • A century and a half later, times have changed.

  • But the "Morehouse Mystique" still endures.

  • Some of you probably came here from communities where everybody

  • looked like you.

  • Others may have come here in search of a community.

  • And I suspect that some of you probably felt a little bit of

  • culture shock the first time you came together as a class

  • in King's Chapel.

  • All of a sudden, you weren't the only high school sports captain,

  • you weren't the only student council president.

  • You were suddenly in a group of high achievers,

  • and that meant you were expected to do something more.

  • That's the unique sense of purpose that this place has

  • always infused -- the conviction that this is a training ground

  • not only for individual success, but for leadership that can

  • change the world.

  • Dr. King was just 15 years old when

  • he enrolled here at Morehouse.

  • He was an unknown, undersized, unassuming young freshman who

  • lived at home with his parents.

  • And I think it's fair to say he wasn't the coolest kid on campus

  • -- for the suits he wore, his classmates called him "Tweed."

  • But his education at Morehouse helped to forge the intellect,

  • the discipline, the compassion, the soul force that would

  • transform America.

  • It was here that he was introduced to the writings

  • of Gandhi and Thoreau, and the theory of civil disobedience.

  • It was here that professors encouraged him to look past

  • the world as it was and fight for the world as it should be.

  • And it was here, at Morehouse, as Dr. King later wrote,

  • where "I realized that nobody...was afraid."

  • Not even of some bad weather.

  • I added on that part.

  • (laughter)

  • I know it's wet out there.

  • But Dr. Wilson told me you all had a choice and decided to do

  • it out here anyway.

  • (applause)

  • That's a Morehouse Man talking.

  • Now, think about it.

  • For black men in the '40s and the '50s,

  • the threat of violence, the constant humiliations,

  • large and small, the uncertainty that you could support a family,

  • the gnawing doubts born of the Jim Crow culture that told you

  • every day that somehow you were inferior,

  • the temptation to shrink from the world, to accept your place,

  • to avoid risks, to be afraid -- that temptation

  • was necessarily strong.

  • And yet, here, under the tutelage of men like Dr. Mays,

  • young Martin learned to be unafraid.

  • And he, in turn, taught others to be unafraid.

  • And over time, he taught a nation to be unafraid.

  • And over the last 50 years, thanks to the moral force of

  • Dr. King and a Moses generation that overcame their fear and

  • their cynicism and their despair,

  • barriers have come tumbling down,

  • and new doors of opportunity have swung open,

  • and laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point

  • where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to

  • serve as President of these United States of America.

  • (applause)

  • So the history we share should give you hope.

  • The future we share should give you hope.

  • You're graduating into an improving job market.

  • You're living in a time when advances in technology and

  • communication put the world at your fingertips.

  • Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike

  • any generation of African Americans that came before it.

  • But that doesn't mean we don't have work -- because if we're

  • honest with ourselves, we know that too few of our brothers

  • have the opportunities that you've had here at Morehouse.

  • In troubled neighborhoods all across this country -- many of

  • them heavily African American -- too few of our citizens have

  • role models to guide them.

  • Communities just a couple miles from my house in Chicago,

  • communities just a couple miles from here -- they're places

  • where jobs are still too scarce and wages are still too low;

  • where schools are underfunded and violence is pervasive;

  • where too many of our men spend their youth not behind a desk in

  • a classroom, but hanging out on the streets or brooding behind a

  • jail cell.

  • My job, as President, is to advocate for policies that

  • generate more opportunity for everybody -- policies that

  • strengthen the middle class and give more people the chance to

  • climb their way into the middle class.

  • Policies that create more good jobs and reduce poverty,

  • and educate more children, and give more families the security

  • of health care, and protect more of our children from the horrors

  • of gun violence.

  • That's my job.

  • Those are matters of public policy,

  • and it is important for all of us -- black,

  • white and brown -- to advocate for an America where everybody

  • has got a fair shot in life.

  • Not just some.

  • Not just a few.

  • (applause)

  • But along with collective responsibilities,

  • we have individual responsibilities.

  • There are some things, as black men,

  • we can only do for ourselves.

  • There are some things, as Morehouse Men,

  • that you are obliged to do for those still left behind.

  • As Morehouse Men, you now wield something even more powerful

  • than the diploma you're about to collect -- and that's the power

  • of your example.

  • So what I ask of you today is the same thing I ask of every

  • graduating class I address: Use that power for something

  • larger than yourself.

  • Live up to President Mays's challenge.

  • Be "sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings,

  • and the injustices of society."

  • And be "willing to accept responsibility

  • for correcting (those) ills."

  • I know that some of you came to Morehouse from communities

  • where life was about keeping your head down and looking out

  • for yourself.

  • Maybe you feel like you escaped, and now you can take your degree

  • and get that fancy job and the nice house and the nice car --

  • and never look back.

  • And don't get me wrong -- with all those student loans you've

  • had to take out, I know you've got to earn some money.

  • With doors open to you that your parents and grandparents could

  • not even imagine, no one expects you to take a vow of poverty.

  • But I will say it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you

  • think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good

  • you can do.

  • (applause)

  • So, yes, go get that law degree.

  • But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the

  • rich and the powerful, or if you can also find some

  • time to defend the powerless.

  • Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business.

  • We need black businesses out there.

  • But ask yourselves what broader purpose your business might

  • serve, in putting people back to work,

  • or transforming a neighborhood.

  • The most successful CEOs I know didn't start out intent just on

  • making money -- rather, they had a vision of how their product or

  • service would change things, and the money followed.

  • (applause)

  • Some of you may be headed to medical school

  • to become doctors.

  • But make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who

  • really need it, too.

  • For generations, certain groups in this country -- especially

  • African Americans -- have been desperate in need of access to

  • quality, affordable health care.

  • And as a society, we're finally beginning to change that.

  • Those of you who are under the age of 26 already have

  • the option to stay on your parent's health care plan.

  • But all of you are heading into an economy where many young

  • people expect not only to have multiple jobs,

  • but multiple careers.

  • So starting October 1st, because of the Affordable Care Act --

  • otherwise known as Obamacare --

  • (applause)

  • -- you'll be able to shop for a quality,

  • affordable plan that's yours and travels with you -- a plan that

  • will insure not only your health,

  • but your dreams if you are sick or get in an accident.

  • But we're going to need some doctors to make sure

  • it works, too.

  • We've got to make sure everybody has good health in this country.

  • It's not just good for you, it's good for this country.

  • So you're going to have to spread the word to your fellow

  • young people.

  • Which brings me to a second point: Just as Morehouse has

  • taught you to expect more of yourselves,

  • inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves.

  • We know that too many young men in our community continue

  • to make bad choices.

  • And I have to say, growing up, I made quite a few myself.

  • Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example

  • of the world trying to keep a black man down.

  • I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing

  • the right thing.

  • But one of the things that all of you have learned over the

  • last four years is there's no longer any room for excuses.

  • (applause)

  • I understand there's a common fraternity creed here at

  • Morehouse: "Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build

  • bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness."

  • Well, we've got no time for excuses.

  • Not because the bitter legacy of slavery and segregation have

  • vanished entirely; they have not.

  • Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist;

  • we know those are still out there.

  • It's just that in today's hyperconnected,

  • hypercompetitive world, with millions of young people from

  • China and India and Brazil -- many of whom started with a

  • whole lot less than all of you did -- all of them entering the

  • global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you

  • anything that you have not earned.

  • (applause)

  • Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was.

  • Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination.

  • And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you've

  • gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships

  • previous generations endured -- and they overcame them.

  • And if they overcame them, you can overcome them, too.

  • (applause)

  • You now hail from a lineage and legacy of immeasurably strong

  • men -- men who bore tremendous burdens and still laid the

  • stones for the path on which we now walk.

  • You wear the mantle of Frederick Douglass and

  • Booker T. Washington, and Ralph Bunche and Langston Hughes,

  • and George Washington Carver and Ralph Abernathy and Thurgood

  • Marshall, and, yes, Dr. Martin Luther King,

  • Jr. These men were many things to many people.

  • And they knew full well the role that racism played

  • in their lives.

  • But when it came to their own accomplishments and sense of

  • purpose, they had no time for excuses.

  • Every one of you have a grandma or an uncle or a parent who's

  • told you that at some point in life, as an African American,

  • you have to work twice as hard as anyone else if you

  • want to get by.

  • I think President Mays put it even better: He said,

  • "Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living

  • and no man dead, and no man yet to be born can

  • do it any better."

  • (applause)

  • And I promise you, what was needed in Dr. Mays's time,

  • that spirit of excellence, and hard work, and dedication,

  • and no excuses is needed now more than ever.

  • If you think you can just get over in this economy

  • just because you have a Morehouse degree,

  • you're in for a rude awakening.

  • But if you stay hungry, if you keep hustling,

  • if you keep on your grind and get other folks to do the same

  • -- nobody can stop you.

  • (applause)

  • And when I talk about pursuing excellence and setting an

  • example, I'm not just talking about in your professional life.

  • One of today's graduates, Frederick Anderson --

  • where's Frederick?

  • Frederick, right here.

  • (applause)

  • I know it's raining, but I'm going to tell about Frederick.

  • Frederick started his college career in Ohio,

  • only to find out that his high school sweetheart back

  • in Georgia was pregnant.

  • So he came back and enrolled in Morehouse to be closer to her.

  • Pretty soon, helping raise a newborn and working night shifts

  • became too much, so he started taking business classes at a

  • technical college instead -- doing everything from delivering

  • newspapers to buffing hospital floors to support his family.

  • And then he enrolled at Morehouse a second time.

  • But even with a job, he couldn't keep up with the

  • cost of tuition.

  • So after getting his degree from that technical school,

  • this father of three decided to come back to Morehouse

  • for a third time.

  • (applause)

  • As Frederick says, "God has a plan for my life,

  • and He's not done with me yet."

  • And today, Frederick is a family man, and a working man,

  • and a Morehouse Man.

  • (applause)

  • And that's what I'm asking all of you to do: Keep setting an

  • example for what it means to be a man.

  • (applause)

  • Be the best husband to your wife, or you're your boyfriend,

  • or your partner.

  • Be the best father you can be to your children.

  • Because nothing is more important.

  • I was raised by a heroic single mom,

  • wonderful grandparents -- made incredible sacrifices for me.

  • And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did

  • the same thing for all of you.

  • But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present,

  • but involved.

  • Didn't know my dad.

  • And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls

  • what my father was not for my mother and me.

  • I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home --

  • (applause)

  • -- where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter.

  • I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.

  • It's hard work that demands your constant attention and

  • frequent sacrifice.

  • And I promise you, Michelle will tell you I'm not perfect.

  • She's got a long list of my imperfections.

  • (laughter)

  • Even now, I'm still practicing, I'm still learning,

  • still getting corrected in terms of how to be a fine husband and

  • a good father.

  • But I will tell you this: Everything else is unfulfilled

  • if we fail at family, if we fail at that responsibility.

  • (applause)

  • I know that when I am on my deathbed someday,

  • I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed;

  • I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted;

  • I will not be thinking about the speech I gave,

  • I will not be thinking the Nobel Prize I received.

  • I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters.

  • I'll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife.

  • I'll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table and

  • seeing them happy and healthy and knowing that

  • they were loved.

  • And I'll be thinking about whether I did right by

  • all of them.

  • So be a good role model, set a good example for that young

  • brother coming up.

  • If you know somebody who's not on point,

  • go back and bring that brother along -- those who've been left

  • behind, who haven't had the same opportunities we have --

  • they need to hear from you.

  • You've got to be engaged on the barbershops,

  • on the basketball court, at church,

  • spend time and energy and presence to give people

  • opportunities and a chance.

  • Pull them up, expose them, support their dreams.

  • Don't put them down.

  • We've got to teach them just like what we have to learn,

  • what it means to be a man -- to serve your city like

  • Maynard Jackson; to shape the culture like Spike Lee;

  • to be like Chester Davenport, one of the first people to

  • integrate the University of Georgia Law School.

  • When he got there, nobody would sit next to him in class.

  • But Chester didn't mind.

  • Later on, he said, "It was the thing for me to do.

  • Someone needed to be the first."

  • And today, Chester is here celebrating his 50th reunion.

  • Where is Chester Davenport?

  • He's here.

  • (applause)

  • So if you've had role models, fathers,

  • brothers like that -- thank them today.

  • And if you haven't, commit yourself to being that man

  • to somebody else.

  • And finally, as you do these things,

  • do them not just for yourself, but don't even do them just for

  • the African American community.

  • I want you to set your sights higher.

  • At the turn of the last century, W.E.B.

  • DuBois spoke about the "talented tenth" -- a class of highly

  • educated, socially conscious leaders in the black community.

  • But it's not just the African American community

  • that needs you.

  • The country needs you.

  • The world needs you.

  • As Morehouse Men, many of you know what it's like to be an

  • outsider; know what it's like to be marginalized;

  • know what it's like to feel the sting of discrimination.

  • And that's an experience that a lot of Americans share.

  • Hispanic Americans know that feeling when somebody asks

  • them where they come from or tell them to go back.

  • Gay and lesbian Americans feel it when a stranger

  • passes judgment on their parenting skills or the

  • love that they share.

  • Muslim Americans feel it when they're stared at with suspicion

  • because of their faith.

  • Any woman who knows the injustice of earning less pay

  • for doing the same work -- she knows what it's like to be on

  • the outside looking in.

  • So your experiences give you special insight that

  • today's leaders need.

  • 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.

  • And 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.

  • (applause)

  • So it's up to you to widen your circle of concern -- to care

  • about justice for everybody, white, black and brown.

  • Everybody.

  • Not just in your own community, but also across this country

  • and around the world.

  • To make sure everyone has a voice,

  • and everybody gets a seat at the table; that everybody,

  • no matter what you look like or where you come from,

  • what your last name is -- it doesn't matter,

  • everybody gets a chance to walk through those doors of

  • opportunity if they are willing to work hard enough.

  • When Leland Shelton was four years old -- where's Leland?

  • (applause)

  • Stand up, Leland.

  • When Leland Shelton was four years old,

  • social services took him away from his mama,

  • put him in the care of his grandparents.

  • By age 14, he was in the foster care system.

  • Three years after that, Leland enrolled in Morehouse.

  • And today he is graduating Phi Beta Kappa on his way

  • to Harvard Law School.

  • (applause)

  • But he's not stopping there.

  • As a member of the National Foster Care Youth and Alumni

  • Policy Council, he plans to use his law degree to make sure kids

  • like him don't fall through the cracks.

  • And it won't matter whether they're black kids or brown

  • kids or white kids or Native American kids,

  • because he'll understand what they're going through.

  • And he'll be fighting for them.

  • He'll be in their corner.

  • That's leadership.

  • That's a Morehouse Man right there.

  • (applause)

  • That's what we've come to expect from you,

  • Morehouse -- a legacy of leaders -- not just in

  • our black community, but for the entire American community.

  • To recognize the burdens you carry with you,

  • but to resist the temptation to use them as excuses.

  • To transform the way we think about manhood,

  • and set higher standards for ourselves and for others.

  • To be successful, but also to understand that each of us has

  • responsibilities not just to ourselves,

  • but to one another and to future generations.

  • Men who refuse to be afraid.

  • Men who refuse to be afraid.

  • Members of the Class of 2013, you are heirs to a great legacy.

  • You have within you that same courage and that same strength,

  • the same resolve as the men who came before you.

  • That's what being a Morehouse Man is all about.

  • That's what being an American is all about.

  • Success may not come quickly or easily.

  • But if you strive to do what's right,

  • if you work harder and dream bigger,

  • if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to

  • help meet the challenges of our time, then I'm confident that,

  • together, we will continue the never-ending task of

  • perfecting our union.

  • Congratulations, Class of 2013.

  • God bless you.

  • God bless Morehouse.

  • And God bless the United States of America.

  • (applause)

The President: Hello, Morehouse!

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President Obama Delivers Morehouse College Commencement Address

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    marcia に公開 2013 年 05 月 30 日
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