HHD's Dean Mechelle Best was the keynote speaker at CSUN's 2023 Black Graduation ceremony. "We belong here," she said, "But we did not get to this juncture in our lives on our own. We stand on the shoulders of strong people. Resilient people. Proud people. Who did what they had to so we could be here today."
Read the speech below and listen on HHD YouTube.
2023 CSUN Black Graduation Keynote
Brilliance: Black, Powerful, & Unapologetic
Good afternoon Black graduating class of 2023 and Congratulations! Welcome family, friends and supporters. Happy Mother’s Day to all who fill that role. It is an honour to be here with you today.
Education is a beautiful and powerful thing. My friend Bob said “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” Education of all forms is where freedom of mind begins.
Graduands, some of you may be wondering if you belong here. If you are in the right place. You may have wondered that many times in the last few years. Know that you are not alone. I too wonder the same. About myself, not about you. I still ask myself those questions periodically. Indeed, I am asking myself those questions even now, standing in front of you, in this regalia, as dean of CSUN’s College of Health & Human Development. Why did the Black graduation committee select me for this keynote? What does this little black girl from Pilgrim Road and Thyme Bottom, in Christ Church Barbados have to share to encourage and inspire you? Who am I to talk about not just being Black, but being Brilliant, Powerful, and Unapologetically so?
First off, let me assure you that, Yes, without a doubt, you are, Brilliant and powerful and you belong here. I belong here. Here, in this time and space, in this Sesevenga territory, on this land enriched by some of your ancestors’ bodies and souls, is where you are meant to be. It is where I am meant to be.
We belong here. But we did not get to this juncture in our lives on our own. We stand on the shoulders of strong people. Resilient people. Proud people. Who did what they had to so we could be here today.
I think often of my grandmother Dorothy Irene Best (called Mum or Dor, by family and friends), who was giant of a woman, though small in stature. Mum laboured in the fields with a fork, sickle and hoe, from daybreak to sunset to provide for her family. Mum believed that despite the circumstances of her birth, she could make a better life for her children. She believed that despite having little education herself, her children and her grandchildren should be educated to make a better life for themselves and each other. So I stand very proudly on Mum’s shoulders.
I also stand on the shoulders of Mum’s parents and our enslaved ancestors, of my mother, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and the village that raised me. Now, I stand side by side with them, and with my sister and brother, cousins and friends to provide shoulders for others to stand on. Our tools may be different to our ancestors’, but our labour and our purpose are the same.
We will never know all of the names and histories of those we lean on, but when we do, we should pay them respect and extend our gratitude. I am grateful to stand on the shoulders of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to Congress, the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's nomination, and the first black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm, whose mother Ruby Seale was born in Christ Church in Barbados where I too was born. Shirley Chisholm told us that we have to make our own seat at the table when no one creates a space for us; but we also have to create seats and spaces for others.
So, I ask you, graduands, whose shoulders are you standing on? Who will you let stand on your shoulders here and now? What life will you live beyond today, so that others will gladly stand on your shoulders after you are gone?
Someone anonymously said:
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king or queen, or anywhere in between, for a day.
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that PERSON has to say.
LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king or queen, or anywhere in between, for a day.
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that PERSON has to say.
For it isn’t your father or mother, or partner, or husband or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the Glass.
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the Glass.
So, Graduands, when you looked in your mirror today, before you got dressed up to come here for this celebration, who did you see? Are you proud of you? Did you pause to take in this momentous period of your lives? Your achievements? Did you reflect on them? In your reflecting and in your reflection, did you see that you are an example? That someone is watching you? Someone is looking up to you? Someone is following your example whether or not you know it?
Black college student, Black first generation college student, Black immigrant, Black and physically and/or mentally challenged, Black LGBTQIA, Black woman. Black man. Some combination of all of those descriptors. That is who we are and we carry a lot on our shoulders don’t we?
We carry our personal, educational, professional and other goals, big or small. We carry the expectations, hopes and dreams, of family and friends. Sometimes the expectations, hopes and dreams of entire communities. Oftentimes we carry the weight of our race, as if a single person could embody or speak for an entire race, but here we are.
Some of us carry the weight of a nation, and a sense that who we are and how we behave reflects on others, is a reflection of others. The weight we carry is heavy, sometimes burdensome. But we carry it anyway. We may falter. We may fail. But we rise and continue on because it is our responsibility and we have purpose. As gospel artiste Yolanda Adams said:
“We may be shattered, but are not broken
Wounded, but time will heal
Heavy the load,
Lonely the road
Shaken, but here I stand
Weary, Still I press on
Long are the nights, the tears I cry
Dark are the days, no sun in the sky,
Yet still I rise
Never to give up
Never to give in
Against all odds
Yet still I rise”
Graduands, if you’ve made it to this point, to the end of your degree, without tears or fears, without doubts, without debt, kudos to you. I’ll hazard a guess though, that all of you had challenges to surmount on your journey to getting your bachelor’s or master’s. But you did that thing! You did it alone. You did it together. And needless to say, you did it with style and panache.
Graduands, I encourage you to go out and do great things. Do good things. Do average and okay things. Just do something. Not only for yourself, but for someone else. Use the knowledge and skills you have gained and developed here at CSUN, to help someone. To build community. Use your innovation and your creativity to change your world, to change our world. Dream big. Soar high. Believe it. Achieve it. And take someone with you.
Most of all, always, always be unapologetic about being Black, being Brilliant, being Powerful and being Proud. Of being YOU!
Congratulations once again!
Dean Mechelle Best
2023 May