Congratulations, Seniors! You did it! And I mean, you REALLY did that. You finished college in a global pandemic. At some point I hope you can take the very deserved pause and break to just sit with that fact. That you right there achieved one of the hardest things to do in life and you did it in the midst of what continues to be a global life-changing event. Seriously, damn.
This is my final post for the academic term. I’d planned for it to be a traditional expository post with a few paragraphs with a main theme on moving on in life, embracing change and its challenges and so on, etc......But this has been an incredibly hard week, month and year. For you and for me. I'd wanted to write something solely joyful and celebratory for you, Seniors, as well as for all of Winthrop.
But I – like many of you – am exhausted and, in full transparency, I can only offer final snippets that don’t come to any larger point or clarity. I hope they at least offer you acknowledgement and affirmation in these times. Because everything really is all too much and that is why I still remain in awe of graduates and current students who are working towards a shared common goal of thriving and living well even while not knowing what that looks like anymore. You are all an inspiration. Especially right now in this moment.
Here's all I can offer:
As a Black American it has been a challenge to keep showing up and practice such extreme cognitive dissonance that everything is fine when nothing is fine nor has it ever been. I am only in my thirties and I have seen the harassment, beatings and killings of Black folk since I was a little girl. If I just go off of recent memory there's George Floyd, Christian Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Renisha McBride, Philando Castile, Laquan Mcdonald, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and countless Black transwomen who've been disappeared or harmed. Then it's all a blur until Rodney King's beating in 1991 when I was 9 years old and the ensuing LA Riots when the police who beat him were acquitted and then the case of Amadou Diallo in 1999 when I was 17.
So how does one experience joy in the midst of despair? You don't. Instead you redefine what joy can be like in a crisis. And then you must forgive yourself. Because guilt does absolutely nothing.
Christian Cooper is the most recent known target of living while black. George Floyd (I’m not providing a link because of the risk of unwittingly sharing access to the video of his murder) is the most recent known target of lethal police brutality. Both are two ends of the systemic racism that permeates our land and institutions.
Harvard has a long tradition of maintaining a separateness from the larger world. To me, that has always been a problem and we are seeing how and why today. Silence means allowance. Inaction is an action all its own.
I am sorry that our leadership has not (yet?) made mention of what's going on around you. I'd like to presume that that is because sometimes it's very intimidating to figure out just what is the right thing to say.
But also? We should try anyway. I will try. And I will fail. And I will try again.
Sometimes there isn't a right thing to say but saying something is the acknowledgment itself. More than likely, whatever we say will fall wrong, won't be quite it but, it will be something.
So take this post as my failing upwards. I wanted to say something -- anything -- to acknowledge what is going on around and among us but it will most likely not be perfect and it will most likely not resonate well with everyone. But that's okay, because I'm failing better.
To return to the Seniors: you are by far in the best position to take everything you see and hear and experience and use that to inform and influence others in ANY and ALL of your paths. Be that voice in the start-up who asks what are the ethical implications of the newest innovation. Be that voice in the consulting firm that talks about retention and not just inclusion and how retention of staff can positively affect the bottom lines of firms. You can incorporate the language of humanity into the worlds of data.
Be. That. Voice.
Here are some fantastic articles to read on the issues:
With humble gratitude,
Your Resident Dean,
DC
p.s. it is beyond okay to feel numb at all of this -- to even not care. Really, you do not have to care. And if you're someone that doesn't care or knows someone who doesn't care, please remove any judgment towards yourself or that person. There's nothing wrong with apathy. It's only wrong when said apathy gets weaponized towards others.