“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;”>On May 18, Washington University was less than 48 hours away from its official farewell to the class of 2011. The ribbons were hung and the courtyard decorated. Meanwhile, across the walk at Graham Chapel, the Washington University Black Senior Alliance was bidding its own special farewell.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Class of 2011, we did it,” said Portia Britt and Kathryn Brown, co-presidents of the Black Senior Alliance (BSA).
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Jennifer Karikari, co-chair for the BSA’s 24th Annual Commencement Ceremony, explained its significance.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The significance of the separate ceremony is to acknowledge the unique challenges many of us face as minority students and to continue the legacy established by those who came before us,” Karikari said.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The African-American community at Wash. U. is more than just an assortment of classmates and roommates. We are family.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Family ties were illustrated through praise, spoken and sung. Special recognition was given to Dean James McLeod, who has served students of color at the university for more than 35 years.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“He is one of the most important and influential administrators on the campus,” BSA social co-chair Pierre Boncy said.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“He never failed to make time for the personal need of any student who asked for it. When we failed, he was there to help us learn and move on. Without him, some of us may not have graduated. You’ve been a father figure and a home away from home.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The students were openly emotional as they said goodbye to their undergraduate experience.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it through these four years of college,” BSA treasurer Zack Jackson said as he introduced student keynote speaker Adrian Scott King. “You’ve been a roommate, a friend and most of all a brother.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>When he stepped to the podium, King reminded students of the work that is left to be done.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I encourage you guys to take a firm grip of your idea of success and your ideals and goals and claim it in front of you; and, as you march, keep your eye on it,” King said. “Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The ceremony had a beautifully informal undertone.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We‘re not just celebrating you, because you didn’t get here by yourself. You have Mama and Daddy – notice how I didn’t say ‘Mother’ and ‘Father,’” said keynote speaker Garret Albert Duncan, d “font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN;” lang=”EN” xml:lang=”EN”>irector of the program in African & African-American Studies. “font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“You also have older siblings who love you, because you have now become your parents’ retirement plan.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>As everyone laughed, they also reflected on the world-altering changes that had taken place during their years on campus.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Your class elected the first black president,” Duncan said – meaning the president of the United States, not a class president.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“You didn’t get with our program; we had to get with
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>your got together with your allies and did something that has never been done in the history of America.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Duncan said he was asked to be both celebratory and cautionary, but he flipped the script. His confidence in the class of 2011 was unwavering.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“You are the dreams realized by ancestors three centuries removed. You’re like Malcolm, Martin and all of those other people whose names begin with M,” Duncan said.
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“You are the black butterflies. You are the dreams conceived that will never die. I said it would be celebratory and cautionary, but I have no worries or doubts. I will sleep well tonight knowing that the world is in your hands.”
“margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>BSA co-president Kathryn Brown offered a challenge to her classmates: “I charge you to not forget the community that made you, to not forget the people who came before you, and to give back and reach back.”
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>
