Graduation speeches are usually, well, graduation speeches. But Donovan Livingston, who received his master’s degree in education from Harvard, spoke/performed a speech/poem worth listening to. It’s confrontational, sometimes controversial, often right on the money and at the end, uplifting. You can read along if you wish. Here are a few excerpts.
I stand here, a manifestation of love and pain,
With veins pumping revolution.
I am the strange fruit that grew too ripe for the poplar tree.
I am a DREAM Act, Dream Deferred incarnate.
I am a movement – an amalgam of memories America would care to forget
My past, alone won’t allow me to sit still.
      ————-
At the core, none of us were meant to be common.
We were born to be comets,
Darting across space and time —
Leaving our mark as we crash into everything.
A crater is a reminder that something amazing happened here —
An indelible impact that shook up the world.
      ————-
An injustice is telling them they are stars
Without acknowledging night that surrounds them.
Injustice is telling them education is the key
While you continue to change the locks.
      ————-
I belong among the stars.
And so do you. And so do they.
Together, we can inspire galaxies of greatness
For generations to come.
No, sky is not the limit. It is only the beginning.
Lift off.

This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2016.

2 replies on “Worth a Listen: Spoken-Word Poetry at Harvard Grad School of Education Convocation”

  1. It is so confusing I don’t even know where to start. A crater does nothing but reflect a depression from something of heavy weight. It reads like a family member that thinks he’s a world class artist, but right now he is painting houses.

  2. Great, thanks for the clip, but this doesn’t tell us much about the quality of our racial justice efforts locally. How about some analysis of local conditions and desegregation policy implementations? How, for example, are things going with TUSD deseg? Some bar graphs comparing declining deseg tax levies with increased legal expense relating to the management of the case would be of interest. Math was not my strong suit, but I do think I understand numbers well enough to know that a subtraction of levies plus an addition of legal expenses = less money to spend on support of racial justice initiatives in the district.

    Will you be endorsing the two incumbent TUSD board members who ran on platforms of social justice but presided in office over this decrease in the district’s capacity to improve services to minorities?

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