Commencement Address
May 23, 2004
Samuel L. Jackson
It’s genuinely an honor for me to be here with you today. It’s a rather brave act on the part of Vassar and President Fergusson to hand a microphone to an actor and say, “Talk about whatever you want, for as long as you want.”
So here goes. This is a very important day, for each of you who is graduating from Vassar, and for your family and friends. It’s also an incredibly significant day for me and my wife LaTanya, and especially for our daughter, Zoe, who also is graduating from this great college.
As I understand it, Vassar is arguably the most brilliant and beautiful of the Seven Sisters. Clearly, she is the most independent and rebellious, and the only one with enough chutzpah to turn down a marriage proposal from Yale.
Graduation ceremonies, in one form or another, date all the way back to ancient Greece. Rumor has it that Plato and Aristotle were always looking for excuses to get down and throw a big Dionysian bash, so they invented graduations and, more importantly, graduation parties. So you’re not only sharing a very personal triumph with your family and friends today, you’re also taking part in an ancient ritual: the celebration of the power of education and knowledge, a power that is now yours. And I am damn proud of each one of you.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee you will ever again spend each day surrounded by so many highly intelligent people, people who are such independent thinkers, certainly not if you come to work in Hollywood. The good news is that everywhere you go, there will be at least one very bright person—and that’ll be you. I know that’s putting some major responsibility on your shoulders. But I believe you’re all up to the challenge.
You are the fortunate ones. You were born with brains and natural ability. You have the capacity and drive to excel. You live at a time and in a country where you still have freedom. You are graduating from one of the world’s best colleges—and not just any old first rate school, but one that has been a pioneer for women’s equality, that emphasizes breadth of knowledge, supports independence of thought, and encourages you to go to the source in search of answers.
You are fortunate, because the future lies wide open before you. Granted, you’re inheriting a screwed up world. Many in my generation, and those that came before, dared to dream and fight and risk in order to advance social justice. We’ve worked to build a world where kids don’t go to bed hungry, and people don’t die needlessly, where wars, and torture, and famine, and hatred are nightmares of the past.
When I was a student at Morehouse College, I was part of the movement for civil rights. We agitated and organized to replace racism with equality, to eradicate prejudice through knowledge and pride. The advancement of that struggle is evident in your diversity, in the fact that Zoe and so many other peoples of color are here today.
We succeeded in some of those battles. On some fronts things are better than they’ve ever been. Apartheid has been defeated, and the cold war is history. Civil rights, women’s rights, and the rights of gay, lesbian, bi and the transgendered people have come a long way. These advances were not some happy accident. People who came before you put up with a lot of suffering and waged some serious struggle to make things change. Be we haven’t gotten there yet. That’s our bad. The good news is, now it’s your turn. I don’t need to tell you that there’s still a long way to go. A hell of a lot of challenges remain and new dangers have arisen, threats to our civil liberties as well as the threat of terrorism, the horror of the AIDS pandemic, the war in Iraq, a world more deeply divided that ever before.
So here you are, at a time when this country and our world are in great need of talented people who are inclusive and committed to justice. I’m not suggesting that every one of you should go out and become Nelson Mandela or live your life as a saint. Don’t let me discourage you if that’s the direction you’re headed in. But whatever you do, whatever field you enter, whatever country or city you live in, you will have numerous chances to use your talents and resources to do something of value. You will have limitless chances to make a difference in some very small or enormous way.
Matthew Vassar made his fortune as a brewer of beer. If he’d been a different type of guy, this place might be a sports bar and we’d be sitting here drinking Vassar Light. But he used his wealth and power and position to build a college where women could get a first-rate education. At the time, that was a radical idea in the U.S., as it still is in some corners of the globe.
Back in 1966 — which was just two short years after the U. S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the South African Government sentenced Nelson Mandela to life in prison — Robert F. Kennedy traveled to South Africa. At that time, RFK was the U. S. attorney general, the position now held by John Ashcroft. He journeyed to the land ruled by Apartheid, where black people were still denied the right to vote and access to quality education. There he spoke to white students at the University of Cape Town, and I believe his prophetic words still apply to you and the world you inherit: “Our answer is the world’s hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress. This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. It is a revolutionary world we live in, and… it is young people who must take the lead. Thus you, and your young compatriots everywhere, have had thrust upon you a greater burden of responsibility that any generation that has ever lived… few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man—and I will add: or woman—stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression.”
Robert Kennedy never lived to see apartheid fall, but he believed that it was possible. People around the world stood up and joined forces and justice triumphed. The defenders of the status quo would prefer that we not be let in on the secret: people can, and they do, change the world.
I would like to ask each of you to do me one personal favor. Okay, two. First, don’t wear the Kangol hat backwards…that’s my thing, and very few folks pull it off as well as I do. But more importantly, give me bragging rights. Do something great. Sometime in the future I want to hear about some incredible thing you’ve done and be able to say, man, I spoke at her—or his—graduation.
In return, I want to offer you a few pieces of advice: try to keep it real. Stay true to what’s best in yourself and to the best of what you’ve experienced here at Vassar. Continue to expose yourself to new ideas. Trust your instincts and think for yourself. Make art, or at least value it. Look for the core of what makes each person human, appreciate the details that make them unique.
Find something that moves you or pisses you off, and do something about it. Put your self out there. Be brave. Be bold. Take action. You have a voice. Speak up, especially when something tries to keep you silent. Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and bigger and greater that yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.
Hold our elected officials accountable. They work for you. Ask them anything you want. If you don’t, you’re giving up on democracy. Inez Milholland – Vassar class of 1909 – didn’t let people silence her and she didn’t let anyone stop her. She became one of the pivotal leaders of the suffragette movement. If you forget everything else I’ve said here today or if you choose to ignore it, remember Inez and remember to vote. It’s a radical act that’s still legal, and we need to keep it that way.
Speaking from my own experience, I also want to offer a warning: you will, undoubtedly, meet people who will try to shut you up or entice you to compromise your principles in any number of ways. They’ll try to seduce you and distract you with money, power, security and perhaps, most dangerously, a sense of belonging. Don’t let them; it’s just not worth it. One of the biggest threats to our world is the culture of silence and compromise—politicians who compromise their beliefs because they’re scared they’ll piss off their voters and won’t get re-elected, corporate executives who put profits above principles. You can have a conscience and still make money. You can have genuine values and still get elected. You can even make movies that do well at the box office without playing to the lowest common denominator.
And try not to let love silence you. And don’t let it kill you—always wear a condom, for god’s sake. Partner with someone who loves you and loves your voice, who loves the very core of who you are and believes in your dreams, not someone who is hell-bent on changing you.
I always try to follow my own advice, so I’m going to tell you what’s on my mind these days. I’m disturbed and I’m angry that today, instead of heading off to a major graduation bash, young people are dying in an unjust war fought for oil and ego. As we celebrate, people are dying, many for senseless reasons. You may not agree, but the great thing about the U.S.A. is we are each still allowed our own perspective. Hold onto yours.
Now, I want to send you off with something, but I really couldn’t figure out what was appropriate or smart--something deep or something witty, like the Ezekiel speech from Pulp Fiction. But I found an author that I loved, that my wife loved, and that I am sure at one point in your life you all loved, and I think I found the appropriate thing by Dr. Seuss: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
{Mr. Jackson reads: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!}
Congratulations!