The Reparated Rebel
Spelman University Commencement Address. May 19th, 2020
The keynote speaker takes the stage ‚ the following is the full transcript of his speech.
The world-renowned artist, author, and intellectual stands before the podium. 50, black and full of life, he clears his throat as though to let the audience know this is a serious moment to be treated with reverence. He then suddenly grabs the mic like he’s at a hip-hop show and spits a few lines:
“Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice! I say the darker the flesh, then the deeper the roots!”
“I praise every black woman in my life! From Assata Shakur to my mother and my daughter and my wife!”
The graduating class and their parents, for that matter, erupt in nostalgic applause for the classic hit song whose appeal seems timeless.
Yeah! First, to the representatives of the Cherokee and Creek Nations, thank you for allowing us to celebrate on your sacred land and for your indigenous wisdom which guides us in our stewardship of all land. “WaDo Oginalii”
And to the alumni, faculty, proud parents, and the 2020 graduating class of the prestigious Spelman University, what’s up! What is up! For real! How did we get here?
I don’t mean this morning. I don’t mean the flight I caught, or the stroll ya’ll made across campus. Or even the educational, spiritual or life journey we made to arrive at this day to mark the significance of this moment in time. I mean how did we as people of color in America get here?
In a country which began with the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of African-Americans, how did we get here four hundred years later on indigenous land at the first historically black Ivy League University with this 50-year-old hip-hop ambassador from the world-famous cultural metropolis Harlem! Giving the keynote address? This is not possible.
Real talk! Thomas Jefferson, if I brought him back to life right now with Hamilton and Washington — all of ’em, if I could bring them back to life right now and put them on stage with me, they would literally die of shock. And I mean literally! I honestly, for real believe they would drop dead on the spot if they saw the sea of powerful young black artists, engineers, thinkers and cultural explorers ready to take the helm of this revolutionary cultural shift transforming the world.
And if they did, just to be extra real with y’all, I would not resuscitate. No CPR or nothing, Because they just gonna drop dead again. I’m sayin’! This is not what they meant when they wrote “We the people.” This is not what they meant when they said “Freedom and justice for all.”
They never envisioned a federal government committed to thriving black and brown communities. They never envisioned generations of white Americans hungry to right the wrongs of their forefathers instead of justify them.
They never imagined neighborhoods like Harlem, Compton, and Atlanta becoming intellectual and artistic meccas guiding the world culturally.
They never dreamed of presidents like Henry Wallace, who in 1949 initiated the redlining program which singled out black neighborhoods for millions in federal grants and enrichment programs.
They never would have believed Dr. Martin Luther King, when he was part of the Kennedy administration, backed by pressure from the black and white church communtities, would pass the Reparations Act for communities of color still recovering from slavery and Jim Crow.
And they never could have presupposed King would then become the 36th president of the United States of America. In 1776 when the founding fathers were marketing America to the world, they could have never envisioned a 2020 America that’s actually starting to match the marketing material!
The crowd cheers!
The future of America is not theirs. It’s yours! And their ideas of what freedom and justice meant have no place in it! Their beliefs on equity were like lead paint, asbestos, and fossil fuel. We might have used them back in the day, but now we know better. We’re straight!
The crowd cheers!
Right? You’re not gonna find out asbestos messes people up and just keep going like it all good. No. And that’s the power we have now with a society built for people rather than for profit. We have the power to stop.
Imagine if in the 1950s when tobacco companies discovered how harmful cigarettes were, they just kept going. Imagine if when U.S. oil companies found out about the environmental damage of fossil fuels, they just kept going.
I mean, remember just a few years ago when the data came out about the damage of addictive design in social media on kids? The whole industry stopped the next day! Mark Zuckerburg came out on camera and cried like a baby. He shut down operations on the spot and vowed never to traffic in that mess again. And why would he? He’s already rich, he doesn’t need the money. He can just stop.
That’s why on the dollar bill it says “in each other we trust” because in our America we know a society of people cannot survive if it’s willing to sacrifice our dignity, morality, and each other for individual profit. And what is profit if it’s not profiting everyone?
If your profit is based on my debt in a society where all profit is based on debt, then that’s just another low key slave society. It took us damn near three hundred years to get past that. uh-uh, On to the next!
Older folks in the crowd clap!
I mean, y’all are graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in the world debt free! Y’all don’t owe nobody, ‘cept maybe your parents for putting up with y’all. Like my moms did me. She’s here, by the way, with my beautiful daughter in the back. Hi Brinda. Daddy loves you.
Why am I telling you this? Because I know I’m the old guy at the club right now. I am. I’m not shy about it.
The graduates and younger kids in the audience laugh!
As much as I still love to rap, I’m a 50-year-old dad who likes to write books, screenplays, give talks and play with my kids. I’m working on my Ph.D. in philosophy and history. I’m not in them streets no more — ’less it’s Sesame Street..
The crowd laughs!
But I be seeing y’all young artists on InsightGram, UsTube, CommunityBook. I’m feeling y’all! “Go for self.” That’s dat new hotness! I’m feeling it. Y’all are the go for self generation.
That’s a radical change to us ORs (Original Revolutionaries). Back in my day during the second Harlem Renaissance, working with LL King James, Noble Nas, Spiritual Underground, Native Tongue Family, Walk-DMC, we were all about groups. Group Connect, Group Projects. Working with each other, vibin’ with each other, cyphers, you know, trying to push this revolutionary hip-hop movement as a cohesive community.
There was no east, west, north, south. Every time some new rap group popped up, if they lyrics was dope and the vibe was original, man, we embraced them. Same thing as those early rock & soul collectives. You know, like Ruth Brown, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley’s group albums. Chuck Berry & The Beatles or the Motown Co-op. It was all about artists working together, collaborating.
We might have done solo songs, but we never even thought about doing solo records. Y’all are doing solo albums! And it is fly! I’m all about it. Be you, but remember how you got here. Even if you go for self, you didn’t get here by yourself.
Older folk, especially people in their ’60’s, 70’s and 80’s clap loudly.
My generation was the first to see the long-term benefits of arts programs funded by the fruits of anti-appropriation legislation. Laws that guaranteed if somebody wanted to appropriate black music or art, a percentage of the money had to flow back to the black community regardless of who’s doing it. As African American music spread around the world, black communities essentially became stakeholders in pop culture. You know how many black schools and arts programs the British invasion funded?
We are the fruits of emancipated black communities and I love black communities. I really do. In fact! In my heart I believe even if they were run-down ghettos instead of the thriving cultural meccas, I would still love them.
When Professor Malcom Shabazz was head of linguistics at MIT, he said “If not for a twist of fate, I might have been a radical revolutionary instead of a celebrated intellectual.”
You know, I met him once. We were recording an album at the Sister Rosetta Tharpe Institute in Compton with Doctor Dre, who had just finished his PhD in music composition and Professor Shabazz strolls in and sits down like it wasn’t a thing.
We talkin’ nobel prize laureate el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz who revolutionized the education system in America! Who founded the preeminent think tank on decolonized systems of wealth. Who Noam Chomsky called “the father of modern political science and linguistics.”
And there I was, a kid who dropped out of Juilliard to become a rapper. I play it cool though, I’m like “Yo, you like Rap?” And he says as though he anticipated my question weeks ago, “I’m a blues man. I find rap music as irritating as cream in my coffee. I’m a purist.”
The audience “ooohs” acknowledging the burn.
Ouch! So just as I’m about to sneak away with my tail between my legs he looks up at me and says:
“However…rappers are unapologetic lyricists expressing the collective catharsis of the black experience in America. As such I suppose I am one. Thus, I’m here. But don’t get it twisted.”
He said “twisted”! I swear! He said:
“Don’t get it twisted. In these streets, our role models are teachers, builders, fruitful families, prolific artists, visionaries, and spiritual leaders. So that’s what we talk about. If our communities were filled with pimps, prostitutes, addicts, and we were an oppressed people, that is what we would talk about. Love and beauty or injustice and oppression. We will always unapologetically express the truth. And, like my favorite student Cornel West says, `’We will be faithful until death. By any means necessary.’ ”
Yo! That shook me up! In a different America I may have been a rebel against oppression instead of a leader of emancipation. Because in an America where community is king, people will fight for and serve the community. But in an America where money is king, people will fight for and serve the almighty dollar.
So, as you go out in the world, be an individual. Go for yourself. Become your passion! But do it right. Because either you change the world or the world changes you. And what you idolize reflects who we ideally will become. If you idolize greed, you become greed. If you idolize creativity, you become creative. And if you idolize selfishness, you become selfish.
I’ve had great role models my whole life as I’m sure all of you have. Otherwise, how did we get here at the Spellman Graduation 2020!
The crowd cheers!
So honor them as you lead the next generation. And become the type of role model they can honor. That’s how you go for self. That’s how you truly shine!
Love y’all and I’m proud of you! Congratulations!
I’m Tupac Amaru Shakur, and I’m out!
