The president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League on Friday used what has become a protest theme from Michael Brown’s death in Missouri to challenge Jackson State University graduates.
Marc Morial, the former New Orleans mayor, urged graduates to continue to learn, embrace civic responsibility and work to keep jobs at home.
Jackson State said it conferred 754 graduate and undergraduate degrees during Friday’s Fall Commencement Exercise at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.
The university awarded six doctoral degrees in chemistry to four African-American women and two others from underrepresented populations in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. Jackson State’s average of 2.1 African-American Ph.D. graduates per year ranks second in the nation, the university said. Also among those receiving degrees were 24 student-athletes.
Morial, citing Ferguson, Mo., as well as Long Island, N.Y., told graduates their education must continue.
“How can this be in 21st Century America,” Morial asked, referring to Brown and Eric Garner, who died after police put him in an illegal chokehold. “How can it be in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
“Hands up! You must learn. You must continue to learn what is needed to be proficient and to be excellent.
“Hands up! You must vote,” he said, pointing out that two-thirds of registered voters sat out the recent election, leaving one-third of the people to decide who would control Congress and how to spend a zillion-dollar federal budget.
Morial warned graduates against self-suppression; which he described as inhibiting your own vote by not turning out to vote. “This generation must pick up the mantle of voting rights again,” he said.
“Hands up! We need jobs. The economy is coming back. The economy wants people like you. But this is a different world, a different economy. People with chemistry and physics and biology degrees from Jackson State University are now competing with people from India, China and Germany.
“We want the jobs here. We want our leaders to do everything they can to keep the jobs here and not send them across the water,” he said.
Morial used Martin Luther King Jr.’s example in encouraging graduates to act now, and not wait. He pointed out that King, who was assassinated at age 39, led the Montgomery bus boycott at age 26 and won the Nobel Peace Prize by age 35.
“You have accomplished much, and you don’t have to wait. Grab it!” Morial said.
JSU President Carolyn W. Meyers commended faculty, staff and families for spearheading the accomplishments of the graduates as they pursue their dreams “beyond this special university.”
A commissioning and pinning ceremony for the U.S. Army ROTC was held at 2 p.m. Friday. Col. Bradly S. MacNealy of the Mississippi National Guard delivered the commissioning address.
Meyers praised members of the military for their distinguished and meritorious service to the university, saying, “As you leave this place, you go with our thoughts and prayers as you ensure the safety of us all.”
Morial told graduates, for their generation to carry the baton, they can’t turn their backs on others. “You must continue to lift others. This is your challenge and your charge.”
In closing, Morial used a thermostat and a thermometer to drive home his point that graduates must be agents of change.
“A thermostat controls the temperature in the room. A thermometer measures the temperature in the room. Be a thermostat! Hands Up!”
