I can already tell you guys like my wife
more than you like me thank you so much
in this director for for that kind
introduction the president Ryan to the
Board of Visitors distinguished faculty
to the proud alumni and most importantly
to the members and guests of the
University of Virginia class of 2019
thank you so much for this blessing in
this honor to join you today for this
momentous occasion I have to admit I'm
overwhelmed right now this weekend has
been a long time coming for so many of
us and you just think about the hours
they were invested all the time spent in
the long nights that became early
mornings think about the countless
moments of anticipation excitement that
sometimes turned into disappointment in
frustration think about the incredible
twists and turns that we've seen along
the way
think of how you've watched people grow
and evolve sometimes for the better but
let's be honest sometimes for the worse
but now this weekend is finally here and
we all together get to answer the most
pressing question of all what the heck
is gonna happen on the series finale of
Game of Thrones
he was gonna sit on the Iron Throne I'm
confused
I'm confused also with mild importance
you guys are graduating and that's
really really exciting as well this has
been a long time coming for for so many
of you and incredibly proud not just a
view but it's here at one time for the
Bicentennial class of 2019 but also for
your village for the family and and
friends who helped you along the way
congratulations to you as a UVA alum
it's impossible to be here on the lawn
for finals weekend and and to not really
soak this in and be transported back to
your own graduation and the commencement
speaker my year was dr. Vivian Penn
she's a renowned physician and scientist
a longtime leader at the National
Institutes of Health she absolutely has
earned her place in the pantheon of
great UVA alone she even has a building
named after her over at the School of
Medicine and and yeah for dr. ping and
in the years after my graduation I'm
blessed to forged a friendship with dr.
penning a couple of weeks ago I reached
out we had a chance to connect and talk
about her own experience as the
commencement speaker he gave me an
occasion to look back at her remarks 14
years later with fresh eyes and to see
what what really I could lift from that
now some years removed from graduation
what I what I found was something that
really struck me a particular paragraph
where dr. Penn was describing the Human
Genome Project and the sobering
realization that we humans have roughly
the same number of genes as fruit flies
now that being said she still reminded
us a really important human
characteristic that differentiates us
from fruit flies there are a couple the
one in particular we can learn from the
past we can live in the present and we
can keep an eye on the future she said
so here 14 years after she made those
remarks I believe that this moment this
day this graduation accomplishment is
best experienced through the lens of
that uniquely human relations
with time today as you punctuate another
transition out of one phase of life and
into another you have the rare
opportunity to seamlessly connect with
who you were who you are and who you
will be for those of you in the college
I want to take you back to the last time
that you were all gathered together here
on the lawn that was Sunday August 23rd
2015
1364 days ago you were all sitting on
this lawn for your opening convocation
in honor induction now the arrangement
was a little different you were turned
around and you were facing the Rotunda
the the temple of knowledge for our
little Academical village you may also
remember that there was a gift that was
left on your seat it was a gift from the
UVA Alumni Association and it was a
shiny new nickel sort of like this one
now I know what you're thinking when it
comes to Thomas Jefferson currency $2
bills are way cooler but nickels are
actually super cool also like trust me
on this okay and the first thing is
they're the only American coin with a
forward-facing presidential bust on that
point
secondly the name is a little bit
misleading because they're only 25
percent nickel but 75 percent copper
they should be called a copper next they
actually cost more to produce than
they're worth they cost about 7.5 cent
to produce and they're worth 5 cent and
then my favorite is how for the past 14
years it's illegal to melt down nickels
or to transport more than $5 worth of
nickels out of the country and that's
because of the rising cost of copper and
nickel and they don't want us realizing
that they're more worth they're worth
more as melted down metal than as actual
nickels coins in general are cool the
study of of coins is called numismatics
and real quick how many sides of there
are how many sides of a coin are there
you're wrong
you're loud and wrong
there are three sides of a coin the
front side is the obverse that's heads
it's the face of the coin
the back side is is called the reverse
that's tails the third side is often
forgotten
it's that edge that runs
circumferentially all around the coin so
why did I just spend so much time
telling you about nickels and coins well
it's because you can get a lot out of
this moment out of this day that your
graduation from UVA if you think about
it being a lot like that nickel you got
at opening convocation on the obverse on
the front side you got the portrait of
mr. Jefferson kind of that figure of our
university that you're staring squarely
in the face on the reverse on the
backside you're looking at Monticello
that's the manifestation of the life
that mr. Jefferson had the vision the
creativity and the drive to create for
himself that's where you're headed
that's where you will be but on that
third side on the edge it's completely
blank
it's seemingly only a transition space
from one side to the other but when you
stand that nickel up or you spin that
nickel around you realize there's
actually some substance there today in
this moment I want you to realize that
you guys are standing on the edge of a
nickel and that there's a lot of power
and potential in this space as dr. Penn
put it living in this moment means that
you're simultaneously having the
opportunity to learn from your past
while keeping an eye on your future
let's start with learning from your past
how can you use this moment to reflect
on your years on these grounds and
really connect with their impact on what
did you glean from your time staring mr.
Jefferson in his university squarely in
the face now I had the honor of living
in a dorm named Webb in my first year at
UVA it's named for the same person for
whom Watson Webb is named today I was
the web in Webb but I say that it was an
honor because that dorm is named after
my great great grandfather
I'm just playin y'all that's not true
it's completely and utterly for I have
no known familial relationship with
Professor Robert Henning Webb and but
but that's a little alternative fact
that I used to tell my suitemates back
in 2001 I bring up Webb dorm and I bring
up my suitemates because a a big part of
where you have been these last few years
is building really important
relationships with others through shared
experiences through commiseration and
sometimes through long-running inside
jokes like how I met Orin on a
basketball court in slaughter and six
years later he was the first person I
asked to be a groomsman in my wedding or
I met Mia in my peer advising group
through the Oh Triple A and and years
later when she had her daughter she did
me the honor of asking me to be one of
Nevaeh's Godfather's or LeAnn who lived
in dunglison she's the girl who I begged
to study with me for chemistry because
she was so smart and studious and
good-looking and and how we in is now my
bride of 10 years next week and and how
she's the mother of our two children the
the bond that you have built that's
right
the bonds that you have built through
your relationships will continue to
deepen with time if you only continue to
value them and nurture them like you
have during these years now beyond
socializing there was certainly an
education for you here at the University
of Virginia in fact back when you
arrived that's the only thing that you
knew for certain that you were going to
receive now you may not have known
precisely in which subject you would
study but you knew that you could
reasonably expect that in these years
you would have some depth of exposure in
some field of inquiry but today as you
look back at where you were what did you
learn over these years not your scores
on exams or the masterful papers you
wrote not what's on your transcript but
what did you actually learn through your
coursework you tackle the substance of
what will become your degrees in
government or
makes african-american studies or
anthropology sociology or psychology but
each semester everyday through your
struggle and your success you're
challenging your commitment you earned
so much more you earned a degree of
humility in a degree of sacrifice a
degree of perseverance and a degree of
thankfulness a degree of self-reliance
and a degree of self-awareness a degree
of swagger and a degree of
sophistication while you deepened your
knowledge in your respective fields
you've actually sharpened the person you
were into the person you are finally
what did you accomplish while you were
here what was your UVA legacy hey buddy
we all inhabit these spaces on grounds
for about a moment just a moment and
we're fiduciaries of an ethos we are
stewards of our University's ideals and
in the time you all were here you led
you created you helped UVA evolve into
its next and better self you stood
united against hatred and bigotry and
you spoke up for greater inclusion and
awareness you helped make history
energizing our men's basketball team
along their path to becoming national
champions you did these things not as
individuals but you did them as a
collective body you proved the power of
collective purpose and passion so when
you look at the Diploma you'll receive
in a couple of hours remember all that
it truly stands for remember how you
walked on these grounds surrounded by
complete strangers but you left with new
family members and lifetime friends
remember how you turn tragedy into
triumph showing the world time and again
who we are and what we stand for
remember how you came in full of
potential but walked out as scholars and
innovators as activists and champions
remember that this chapter of your life
is closing but this ceremony is called
commencement because this is just the
beginning remember that you are just
getting started
next up let's let's talk about today
let's discuss where you're currently
situated in this moment and standing on
the edge of a new the space you can
easily overlook
into which you don't often pay attention
but a space that has more substance and
function than you realize there's a word
that I use not infrequently in my time
as an medical anthropology major here at
UVA
that word is liminality it's derived
from the Latin word meaning threshold
and it's the transitional period or
phase of a rite of passage during which
the participant lacks social status of
rank they remain anonymous they show
obedience and humility and they follow
prescribed forms of conduct conduct
address etc look at yourselves heard it
on to this lawn wearing these formless
gowns and these awkward though expertly
decorated caps
this is liminality and one thing that's
well accepted is that in those liminal
moments there's a transformational power
in those transitional periods if only
you recognize the moment in here since I
graduated from UVA I've had a quite a
few transitions from undergrad to grad
school from grad school to med school
med school to law school law school back
to med school med school to residency
residency to the why are you confused
about what I've been doing with my life
sometimes I am too but I want to focus
on one transition in particular to help
really illustrate how powerful these
moments can be if you really focus on
now you heard earlier that I was a White
House Fellow but that only tells part of
the story because I was actually a White
House Fellow in a presidential
transition year in 2016 to 2017 so I've
walked into the White House knowing that
there's going to be a change in my
commander in chief for those first five
and a half months working in the Obama
administration was absolutely amazing in
my work on President Obama's my
brother's keeper initiative I had the
opportunity to do some really great and
important work but also meet some really
incredible people I had meetings with
Kobe Bryant and Eric Holder J Ellis Kofi
Sabo and Al Sharpton Eric Holder DL
Hughley the entire Detroit Pistons
basketball team now I did meet with some
non black people too but I'm doing this
for the culture right now so
you know you know one week I even had
the opportunity to meet with President
Obama four times in the same week it was
incredible
after the election I knew along with the
rest of America that I was in for a
pretty significant change so I spent the
next few weeks preparing myself for the
transition as I had learned to do so
many times before then on the night
before inauguration
I spent time just sitting in the West
Wing wandering around talking with folks
soaking in the moment but also thinking
I reflected on my values and my
grounding principles I thought through
scenarios where I could still have an
impact and still meet cool people but
more than anything I grounded myself in
a sense of duty knowing that my passion
and my voice for social justice could be
my greatest contribution to the building
once the Trump administration began in
January harnessing that liminality
focusing on that in on that transition
completely that helped me down it
grounded me through the very first day
of the Trump administration when my
office was cleaned out all my belongings
thrown away because they thought I was
leaving with the rest of the Obama
administration or it steadied me when
they moved my desk out into the hallway
and wouldn't allow me to come into the
office with everyone else because they
were dealing with sensitive matters it
sustained me in those six weeks that I
spent sitting in a hallway being told
every day that they didn't have any work
on which I can help finally two months
later in March I found an office where I
could contribute where I was valued as a
colleague and where I forged genuine
friendships in the domestic policy
council I worked on drug pricing and I
even worked to find ways to continue
some of the important work from the
Obama administration and my brother's
keeper
but without my reflection in the midst
of that transition without grounding
myself somewhere between Obama and
trauma I never would have made it to
that point and more than that I never
would have known how to be myself and
have an impact once I got there now
while that example focuses on a unique
type of transition
severe transitions are going to take you
from one state to another and in that
process you're often gonna acquire
something on the other side of that
transition it may be a degree it may be
a title it may be a higher salary or it
may be some privilege oh snap here we go
commencement speakers about to break
down white privilege it's gonna be real
and while while racial and gender and
body privilege are unique in that they
can be assessed by appearance alone the
truth is that we all need to have an ear
to listen when we talk about the role of
privilege and shaping experiences in
this country keep in mind that in
addition to my being black you are
looking at a young cisgender
heterosexual non-disabled Christian
American man with two professional
degrees who grew up in a two-parent
household there's a lot of privilege
that I have that I have to be aware of
so for the purposes of this morning
let's operate on the premise that
privilege is privilege and you will
acquire your newest form of privilege in
just a few hours you're gonna have the
privilege that comes with being a
college graduate and I know you're
looking at me like I got the privilege
of these loans
you might even bulk up my use of the
term privilege because of how hard you
worked to earn it and I get that but the
truth is that the privilege that comes
with being a college graduate it plays
out in a lot of unexpected places after
all only 31 percent of adults over the
age of 25 have a bachelor's degree
that's less than one in three and
compared to a high school graduate
you're half as likely to be unemployed
and you're gonna earn about twenty-two
thousand dollars more per year an income
gap that's actually gonna grow with time
in a couple of hours you're gonna become
11% more likely to own a home and you're
actually gonna gain six additional years
of life expectancy compared to a high
school graduate the privilege that I'm
describing with regard to your identity
as newly minted college graduates is
that Society gives you an outsized
benefit for that status more than that
it gives you that benefit often at the
expense of someone else's opportunity or
well-being in cycles continue so when
this transitional period in this last
phase of your right of passage in the
midst of your liminality what will you
do
what transformational energy will you
harness what commitments to yourself
will you make as you learn from your
past and look to your future will you be
willing to set aside your newest
privilege and instead stand up speak out
and commit yourself to prioritizing
equality and justice the choice will
always be yours but how will you act who
will you be and that brings us to the
final side of our coin the reverse the
back side tails now going back to our
nickel that's the size of the depiction
of the West facade the iconic back of
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello just as
Jefferson spent over four decades
designing dismantling and reimagining
his estate how will you conceive execute
and inhabit the future that awaits you
and I want to build on this historic
symbolism of UVA commencement for a
moment we talked about how at your
opening convocation you returned facing
the rotunda and today you sit facing the
opposite direction
if you remove old Cobo Hall in the south
from today's backdrop you realize that
the notion was to have you facing
outward into the world that awaits you
now the road ahead would not always look
like those paved streets behind you like
Emmitt Street or University Avenue they
won't always be lined with the comfort
convenience and fun of the corner
instead the road ahead will look a lot
like the environment that surrounded you
through your years in Charlottesville
like these Blue Ridge Mountains then
believe me there will be mountains ahead
not a single indomitable mountain but a
series of seemingly sloping hills
sometimes beautiful scenery from a
distance but often tiring and
treacherous when you try to divert
traversing I remember one particular
mountain just before I came to UVA in
2017 no not not figuratively it was
really a mountain I was on a trip to
South Africa with a group of White House
fellows and we went to do a hike on
lions head mountain in Cape Town has a
summit of about 2,200 feet takes about
90 minutes to hike the way up was
fantastic I was surrounded by friends
full of energy taking in the scenery we
we get to the top and snap some pictures
post on Instagram dining done but
shortly after starting the hike back
down I get to a scramble and I
carelessly go to descend I slip a tumble
down the Scramble about 30 or 40 feet or
so my careening body amazingly comes to
a stop two feet from the edge of the
mountain as I lay there in pain and
disbelief a French passerby mutters
something about me being a stupid
American I get up I dust myself off and
I limp back down the mountain feeling
absolutely awesome but I learned
something from that tumbling something
hit me and I'm not talking about one of
the many rocks that hit me on the way
down I realized that I slipped and fell
because I was wearing a pair of old Nike
Flyknit that had no grip that I moved
too quickly and too carelessly on the
way down that the falling felt terribly
and that next time I would be better
I realized that when it comes to
mountains you really have to know how to
climb or else you're more likely to fall
these mountains ahead of you are similar
you have to know how to climb in with
what tools or else you're more likely to
fall let's be real you're gonna fall
sometimes anyway but what can you do to
minimize that risk or to make your
tumble a little more forgiving now on
their website REI has the ten essentials
for safety survival and basic comfort
for climbing mountains when we're
talking about real mountain climbing not
hiking small things that I still
couldn't do without injury their list
includes navigation like a map or
compass sun protection insulation
illumination first aid supplies fire ah
repair kitten tools nutrition hydration
and an emergency shelter if you were new
to mountain climbing this list or one
likes it like it seems like a pretty
good place to start to give you your
best chance for a success well for you I
wanted to offer a few recommendations as
the tools you can take with you as you
navigate the mountains ahead I feel
blessed to have achieved what I have
over these last fourteen years since UVA
and I wanted to give you the bcw guide
on how to climb first be authentic it's
a it's a lot like navigation actually
know your true north when you come to a
fork in the road you have multiple
opportunities in front of you or when
you have a difficult decision to make
about how to move forward in new or
challenging spaces keep in mind that you
never have regrets if you stay true to
yourself true to your values and true to
your dreams second find mentors I think
this would be the illumination on re
eyes list and while there's no other
person who shares all the unique
components that make you you there are
always people who have climbed mountains
before you and who can give you some
insight on how to best tackle yours
do yourself a favor keep those folks
around to help light your path believe
me you'll save yourself a lot of time by
avoiding the missteps they made when
they climbed third iterate it's kind of
a mix of those first aid supplies
and the repair kit and tools like I said
before you're going to fall you'll take
your lumps and both you and your tools
may seem broken at times but in order to
move forward you have to patch them you
have to patch yourself up and try again
you've already learned that nothing
worth having comes easily and as you
push farther and farther you have to
remember to take care of yourself to
adapt on the fly and to always be ready
to try again
fourth cross pollinate that's like
nutrition from our yard diversity of
thought is such an incredible driver of
organizational and individual success
and people in different places think
differently after charlottesville I went
to North Carolina then Chicago New York
City Washington DC back to
Charlottesville and I picked up so many
new and different ways of thinking along
the way you can find diversity of
thought in one place but you find a lot
more if you look in new in different
places don't be afraid to branch out or
take advantage of the learning
opportunities wherever they may be and
finally lift as you climb I'm talking
about reaching back and lifting someone
up who's on their way up behind now this
would be that provision of fire in re
eyes list and it sounds like added work
it sounds like extra credit but it's
actually life bringing you learned so
much by looking back by reaching back
and helping someone else alone that's
one way that you can put your privilege
including your privilege as newly-minted
to college graduates to work by making
life better for others and after all as
Pharrell said yesterday that's the only
way to make life better for yourself
it also can give you one way to keep in
touch with how far that you've gone to
give yourself that fire and that energy
to make it on your next steps ahead so
be authentic find mentors iterate cross
pollinate and lift as you climb I'm not
saying that it's a sure thing for
success fulfillment in a peaceful and
happy life but I do think that by
keeping these concepts in mind you
really increase your odds for safety
survival and basic comfort while you
climb now my time up here has long since
run its course and
you know sorry but not sorry they gave
me the mic so they messed up but I know
that you guys have hats to throw and
hugs to give you have diplomas to
receive and selfies to snap so in
closing I just want to share with you
the great optimism that I have for you
all as you move forward we have so much
to be grateful for in our lives in our
nation and in our world I want to lead
with that because I believe it in my
heart in so many ways people are living
better lives all around the world today
than at any previous point in human
history but I have to acknowledge the
enormous challenges that we still face
in our nation in our world like how we
face a crisis of economic mobility how
the chance is no better than a coin flip
that you all will earn more than your
parents did or how men continue to
perpetrate absolutely unconscionable
assaults on the physical and physical
and policy assaults on the bodies and on
the rights of women
[Applause]
how how our failures to protect the
environment not only endanger future
generations but endanger hundreds of
millions of people around the world
right now
how unacceptable disparities and in
health
absolutely unacceptable disparities in
health are persisting because of ongoing
disparities and in Justices in where we
are born grow live learn eat play and
pray finally how wealth and power remain
concentrated in the hands of far too few
and out of reach for far too many but
but you know there's a quote by
frederick douglass and it's that power
concedes nothing without a demand it
never did and it never will and while
you hear me run through that list of
societal ills i want you to remember
what your parents and your professors
and your employers have been saying all
along
if power concedes nothing without a
demand power better watch out because
there's never been a more demanding
generation than y'all so take that
spirit and direct it towards something
the parents like them so thank you to
take that spirit and direct it towards
something positive towards something
productive toward improving our society
and mending unnecessary devise toward
being the change and building the world
in which we should be living be slow to
speak but quick to listen be thoughtful
contemplative and inclusive reject the
notion that you have to play the game to
be able to change the rules but partner
and plan well so that you can create new
games that work for everyone because if
you stand on the edge of your nickel and
you capture the transformational power
of the moments that await you you can
and you will accomplish anything we've
never seen the likes of you in the world
will never be the same so here's to you
the class of 2019 first of your names
kings and queens of the wahoos in the
first NCAA tournament champion Lords of
the Bicentennial and protectors of the
law
and if you don't get that reference
you've got a lot of Game of Thrones to
watch tonight so thank you for all that
you've done and all that you will do
best of luck and journey well
[Applause]