1
00:00:01,500 --> 00:00:06,020
- So savor the taste
of your triumphs today.

2
00:00:06,020 --> 00:00:09,160
Don't just swallow the moment
whole without digesting

3
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:10,823
what has actually happened here.

4
00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:15,080
Look down over what you conquered,

5
00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,433
and appreciate what God
has brought you through.

6
00:00:19,860 --> 00:00:23,560
Everything that you fought
for was not for yourself.

7
00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,690
It was for those that come after.

8
00:00:25,690 --> 00:00:27,395
Many of you will leave Howard and enter

9
00:00:27,395 --> 00:00:30,930
systems and institutions
that have a history

10
00:00:30,930 --> 00:00:34,033
of discrimination and marginalization.

11
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,620
I stand here today knowing
that my Howard University

12
00:00:38,620 --> 00:00:43,620
education prepared me to play
Jackie Robinson, James Brown,

13
00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,990
Thurgood Marshall, and T'Challa.

14
00:00:46,990 --> 00:00:50,260
But what do you do when the
principals and standards

15
00:00:50,260 --> 00:00:52,040
that were instilled in you here,

16
00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,910
close the doors in front of you?

17
00:00:54,910 --> 00:00:57,270
Sometimes you need to get knocked down

18
00:00:57,270 --> 00:01:01,173
before you can really figure
out what your fight is.

19
00:01:02,070 --> 00:01:04,640
Your very existence is
wrapped up in the things

20
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:06,190
you are here to fulfill.

21
00:01:06,190 --> 00:01:09,869
Remember the struggles
along the way are only meant

22
00:01:09,869 --> 00:01:12,870
to shape you for your purpose.

23
00:01:12,870 --> 00:01:16,640
We all know what it's like to be told

24
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,570
that there is not a place
for you to be featured,

25
00:01:20,570 --> 00:01:22,930
yet you are young, gifted and black.

26
00:01:22,930 --> 00:01:25,560
We know what it's like to be told to say,

27
00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,900
there's not a screen for
you to be featured on,

28
00:01:27,900 --> 00:01:30,150
a stage for you to be featured on.

29
00:01:30,150 --> 00:01:33,210
We know what it's like to be
the tail and not the head.

30
00:01:33,210 --> 00:01:36,170
We know what it's like to
be beneath and not above.

31
00:01:36,170 --> 00:01:38,510
Not that we would be
around during award season

32
00:01:38,510 --> 00:01:39,870
or that it would make a billion dollars,

33
00:01:39,870 --> 00:01:43,770
but we knew that we had something special

34
00:01:43,770 --> 00:01:45,340
that we wanted to give the world.

35
00:01:45,340 --> 00:01:49,240
That we could be full
human beings in the roles

36
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,824
that we were playing, that
we could create a world

37
00:01:52,824 --> 00:01:57,463
that exemplified a world
that we wanted to see.

38
00:01:58,430 --> 00:02:03,430
We knew that we had something
that we wanted to give.

39
00:02:04,390 --> 00:02:06,320
Sometimes you need to feel the pain

40
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,710
and sting of defeat to
activate the real passion

41
00:02:09,710 --> 00:02:13,683
and purpose that God
predestined inside of you.

42
00:02:14,570 --> 00:02:18,493
God says in Jeremiah, I know
the plans I have for you,

43
00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:24,590
plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

44
00:02:24,590 --> 00:02:26,523
Plans to give you a hope and a future.

45
00:02:27,894 --> 00:02:32,320
The light of new realization
shines on you today.

46
00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,140
As you commence to your past,

47
00:02:34,140 --> 00:02:39,140
press on with pride, and
press on with purpose.

48
00:02:40,650 --> 00:02:42,219
God bless you.