Vice President Kamala Harris Speaks at Tennessee State University Graduation
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On a rainy spring morning, Vice President Kamala Harris stood before Tennessee State University鈥檚 class of 2022, reviewing the past and a future unknown to the graduating students.
Before her played a montage of the country鈥檚 history of Black Americans, of Emmitt Till鈥檚 murder, the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr., all of which led to the first Black president, Barack Obama, being elected.
Now Harris stood on a historically Black campus as the first female vice-president, the first Black vice-president and the first Asian-American vice-president of the United States.
The rain stopped for a moment as she began to speak words of praise for the graduates, who were born and raised to witness several historical events in their lifetimes.
鈥淵ou are a generation that grew up online and survived a pandemic,鈥� she said.
鈥淎nd the world that you graduated into is unsettled,鈥� she added.
Although inequality has always existed, she said, history is repeating itself as women and men once again face disenfranchisement through extreme wealth inequality, disparities in criminal justice, voting rights and other 鈥渇undamental principles we hoped were long settled.鈥�
鈥淧rinciples like the freedom to vote and the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies,鈥� she said.
This generation also faces war, as Ukrainian civilians fight against Russian soldiers, and global warming threatening to bring ecological disasters.
These issues now loom over the graduates鈥� futures and now fall on their shoulders to create a better future, she noted, as she looked over the mainly minority students.
There will be many times that these graduates will look at a room full of people that don鈥檛 look like them, but Harris reminds them they鈥檙e not alone.
鈥淎nd at that moment, you must remember that you are not in that room alone. Always know that you carry the voices of everyone here and those upon whose shoulders you stand,鈥� she said.
She ended on a note about her mother.
鈥淢y mother would often say to me, Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, make sure you are not the last,鈥� said Harris. 鈥淚 have been many firsts in my lifetime and as I look out at all of you today, I know I will not be the last,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 cannot wait to see the future you create.
is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: [email protected]. Follow Tennessee Lookout on and .
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