Fear Can Shadow Hope, But Hope Can Defeat Fear
May 17, 2023
"Your generation will not be ignored, will not be shunned, will not be silenced."
Well, thank you, Mr. President, for that introduction. Dr. Morse, thank you for the incredible honorary degree.
And thank you, President Frederick, for the invitation and for your leadership of your alma mater.
SerenaโStudent Body President, College of Pharmacy, the class speaker. And just remember, when youโre President of the United States and they say, โJoe Biden is out in the waiting room to say hello,โ promise me you will not say, โJoe who?โ All right?
You all think Iโm kidding.ย
To the distinguished faculty and staff, thank you for having me.ย
And to the parents and families and the Class of โ23โ2023: Congratulations.ย
And, by the way, we will get to giving you your degrees. I promise thatโs coming.ย
You are here with the heart and through the heartache, through blood, sweat, and tears of everything thatโs came before, for everything yet to come. You are here at a new moment of hope and possibilities.
But, graduates, before we begin, as mentioned many times, tomorrow is Motherโs Day. Stand for your mothers and grandmothers. Stand and thank them.ย
Where I come from, moms rule.ย
To my friendโand he is my friendโCongressman Jim Clyburn, the thing that I admire most about you, Jim, is your absolute integrity in everything you doโin everything you do. This is a man of honor.ย
I attended South Carolina State Universityโs commencement as Jim received his degree he earned 60 years ago but never got a chance to receive it in person.
Jim, itโs an honor to join you here today and receive an honorary degree from this great university. โฆ
Iโm also honored thatโthereโs a person here today, Dr. Tony Allen. He is President of my home state [H]BCU, Delaware State University, where I got politically started.ย
I was fortunate to have Tony as a Senate staffer for a long time. Then he got his PhD, had a distinguished career in business, and became president of an HBCU. Now Tony chairs my White House Board of Advisors on HBCUs, which is designed to support and advance HBCU excellence with a lot more money.ย
Iโm also proud to say that weโre the first White House to formally convene where the real power is: the Divine Nine. Oh, you allโyou all think Iโm kidding? Not a joke.ย
The Divine Nine not only has a seat at the table, we definitely hear you at the table. And theyโre, first time ever, at the White House permanently.ย
So, folks, in 2023, Iโm truly honored to be here at Howard.
Chartered 156 years ago by an act of Congress just after Emancipation and the Civil War. Foundedโfounded on a hilltop in Washington, D.C. The Mecca. The Mecca.ย
Always promoting, excellence, leadership, and truth and service. It really has. And a proving ground for future leaders of science, medicine, education, business, faith, arts, entertainment, and public service. Trailblazing intellectuals, lawyers, doctors. The first BlackโI might sayโVice President of the United States of America. You can say that again.ย
Kamala sends her love. And she sent a clear message that today I have the privilege, as she points out, of speaking at the real H-U. Now you realize thatโs going to cost me at home.ย
Thisโthereโs enormous pride in this university founded in the verses of the Howard anthem. And I quote, โReared against the eastern sky, proudly there on hilltop high โฆ There she stands for truth and right, sending forth her rays of light.โ It matters. It matters. It matters.ย
Weโre living through one of the most consequential moments in our history with fundamental questions at stake for our nation. Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be? Youโre going to help answer those questions.
Let me take you back to January of 2009. I stood in Wilmington, Delaware, on the train station of Amtrak, carrying my folder waiting to be picked up by a guy named Barack Obama. The first Black man elected President of the United States.ย
I was there to join him as Vice President on the way to the historic inauguration in Washington. A moment of extraordinary hope, but also, as I stood thereโand this is the Godโs truthโI couldnโt help think about another day I stood there.
I wasnโt much more than your age. Iโd just got out of law school. I was a publicโI had gone to work for a big firm, but my stateโbecause when Dr. King was assassinated, parts of it wereโmy cityโparts were burned to the ground. We had a very conservative governor. He stationed the National Guard on every corner with drawn bayonets for 10 months. I quit and became a public defender.ย
And I used to have to introduce my clientsโno, thatโs not so nobleโI had to interview my clients down at the Wilmington train station when they were arrested. On the east sideโthatโs where theyโd be taken in the aftermath of the riots that burned Wilmington following his assassination.
In 2009, while waiting for Barack, I was both living history at the same time I was reliving it. A vivid demonstration: When it comes to race in America, hope doesnโt travel alone. Itโs shadowed by fear, by violence, and by hate.
But after the election and the re-election of the first Black American President, I had hoped that the fear of violence and hate was significantly losing ground.
After beingโno longer being Vice President, I became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania for four years. But in 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, crazed neo-Nazis with angry faces came out of the fields withโliterally with torches, carrying Nazi banners from the woods and the fields chanting the same antisemitic bile heard across Europe in the โ30s. Something that I never thought I would ever see in America.
Accompanied by Klansmen and white supremacists, emerging from dark rooms and remote fields and the anonymity of the Internet, confronting decent Americans of all backgrounds standing in their way, into the bright light of day. And a young woman objecting to their presence was killed.ย
And what did you hear? That famous quote. When asked about what happened, that famous quote. โThere are very fine people on both sides.โ
Thatโs when I knewโand Iโm not jokingโthatโs when I knew I had to stay engaged and get back into public life. No, IโI donโt say it for that reason. I say it for the journey.ย
I donโt have to tell you that fearless progress towards justice often meets ferocious pushback from the oldest and most sinister of forces. Thatโs because hate never goes away.ย
I thought, when I graduated, we could defeat hate. But it never goes away. It only hides under the rocks. And when itโs given oxygen, it comes out from under that rock.ย
And thatโs why we know this truth as well: Silence is complicity. It cannot remain silent. We are live through this battle for the soul of the nation. And it is still a battle for the soul of the nation.ย
What is the soul of a nation? Well, I believe the soul is the breath, the life, the essence of who we are. The soul makes us, โus.โ
The soul of America is what makes us unique among all nations. Weโre the only country founded on an ideaโnot geography, not religion, not ethnicity, but an idea.
The sacred proposition rooted in Scripture and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that weโre all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While weโve never fully lived up to that promise, we never before fully walked away from it.
We know that American history has not always been a fairytale. From the start, itโs been a constant push and pull for more than 240 years between the best of us, the American ideal that weโre all create equalโand the worst of us, the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart. Itโs a battle thatโs never really over.
But on the best days, enough of us have the guts and the hearts to st-โto stand up for the best in us. To choose love over hate, unity over disunion, progress over retreat. To stand up against the poison of white supremacy, as I did in my Inaugural Addressโto single it out as the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy.ย
And Iโm not saying this because Iโm at a Black HBCU. I say it wherever I go.ย
To stand up for truth over liesโlies told for power and profit.ย
To confront the ongoing assault to subvert our elections and suppress our right to vote. That assault came just as you cast your first ballots in โ20 and โ22. Record turnouts. You delivered historic progress.
I made it clear that AmericaโAmericans of all backgrounds have an obligation to call out political violence that has been unleashed and emboldened. As was mentioned already, bomb threats to this very university and HBCUs across the country.
To put democracy on the ballot. To reject political extremism and reject political violence.ย
Protect fundamental rights and freedoms for women to choose and for transgender children to be free.ย
For affordable healthcare and housing.ย
For the right to raise your family and retire with dignity.
To stand with leaders of your generation who give voice to the people, demanding action on gun violence only to be expelled from state legislative bodies.ย
To stand against books being banned and Black history being erased. Iโm serious. Think about it.ย
To stand up for the best in us.ย
And today, I come here to Howard to continue the work to redeem the soul of this nation, because itโs here where I see the future. And Iโm notโthatโs not hyperbole.ย
We can finally resolve those ongoing questions about who we are as a nation. That puts strength of our diversity at the center of American life. A future that celebrates and learns from history. A future for all Americans. A future I see you leading. And Iโm not, again, exaggerating. You are going to be leading it.ย
Again, letโs be clear: There are those who donโt see you and donโt want this future. There are those who demonize and pit people against one another. And there are those who do anything and everything, no matter how desperate or immoral, to hold onto power. And thatโs never going to be an easy battle.
But I know this: The oldest, most sinister forces may believe theyโll determine Americaโs future, but they are wrong. We will determine Americaโs future. You will determine Americaโs future. And thatโs not hyperbole.ย
No graduating class gets to choose the world into which they graduate. Every class enters the history of a nation up to the point it has been written by others.
But few classes, once in every several generations, enters at a point in our history where it actually has a chance to change the trajectory of the country. You face that inflection point today, and I know you will meet the moment. Just think about the many ways you already have.
With your voices and votes, I was able to fill my commitment to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. And, by the way, sheโs brighter than the rest. She is one bright woman.ย
Because of you, more Black women have been appointed to the federal appellate courts underโthan under every other President in American history combined.ย
And, by the way, I mean it. I mean it. Because of you. Because of you.ย You turned out. You spoke up. You knew. You showed up, and the votes counted. And you made people say, โWhoa, wait a minute. What price will I pay if I donโt do the following?โย
You feel the promise and the peril of climate change. Because of you, weโre making the biggest investment ever in the history of the world in climate change. Donโt ever think your voice doesnโt matter.ย
Iโm keeping my promise that no one should be in jail merely because of using or possessing marijuana. Their records should be expungedโjust expunged.ย
My student debt relief plan would help tens of millions of people, especially those on Pell Grants. Seventy percent of Black college students receive Pell Grants. Many of you, the savings would be significant and even wiping out student debt completely for some.ย
Butโthis new Republican Party is dead set against it, suing my administration to stop you from getting student debt relief. The same opposition who received relief loans, I might add, to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemicโmembers of the Congressโworth thousands, even millions of dollarsโmost of which didnโt have to be paid back. Yet, they say itโs okay for them but not for you. I find it outrageous.
To reduce your debt service payments when you graduate, weโre also ensuring that no oneโno one with an undergraduate loan today or in the future will have to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income to repay their loans, down from 10. And in 20 years, itโs gone.ย
Republican officials are fighting that as well. But I will always keep fighting for you. And many others willโand many in the Republican Party as well will fight for you.ย
But we also know there is more to do. Because of your power, we took the most significant law on gun violenceโwe passed itโthe most significant law in 30 years.
But we will not give up. I got the Assault Weapons Ban passed 30 years ago, and weโre going to pass it again. We must pass it.ย
And thereโs more to do on police reform and public safety.ย
During the State of the Union, I asked the rest of the country to imagine having to talk to their children and their families like your families had to talk to you.ย
Itโs about your security. Itโs about your dignity. Itโs demeaning and degrading and deadly when you just have to stand there and say, โWhen youโre stopped, turn the interior light on, put both hands on the wheel, donโt reach for your license.โ What in the hell is going on in America?ย No, think about it.ย
I ask all the parents of non-minority children to ask what they would say, what they would do.ย
I know youโre frustrated that there are so many elected officials who refuse to pass a law that will do something.
Kamala and I stood next to the family of George Floyd and civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials to sign the executive order I came up with requiring the key elements of the George Floyd bill be applied to federal law enforcement: banning chokeholds, restricting no-knock warrants, establishing a database for police misconduct, advancing effective and accountable community policing that builds public trust. And weโll keep fighting to pass the reforms nationwide.ย
Equal justice is a covenant we have with each other. It must not just be an ideal; it has to be a reality.ย
Youโre leading the way on this and so much more. Thatโs why Kamala and I are so committed to investing in you and HBCUs. HBCUs help produce 40 percent of Black engineers; 50 percent of Black lawyers ; 70 percent of Black doctors and dentists ; 80 percent of Black judges.ย
Look, we see HBCU excellence in every day, with staff at every level of the White House and the administration, because I decided when I was elected, I promised I was going to have my administration would look like America.ย
But we all know that HBCUs donโt have the same endowments and funding as other major colleges and universities. For example, denying the opportunity to build and fund research labs that will lead to new technologies and good-paying jobs.
Thatโs why I asked and weโve invested $6 billion and counting in HBCUs, including to create new research and development labs that prepare students for jobs of the future in high-income fields, from cybersecurity, engineering, biochemistry, healthcare.
Standing here, I think the last time I came to Howard with President Frederick and others was in my final year as Vice President to host the Cancer Moonshot on campus, because you are leading the way. Youโre the scientists, the doctors, the advocates who will bringโdo big things like ending cancer as we know it and even curing some cancers, which weโre on our way of doing.ย
Youโre the diplomats and global citizens making democracy work for people around the world. Lawyers defending our rights.
Artists shaping our culture. Fearless journalists. This is real, though. Youโreโthis is what youโre doing. Fearless journalists and intellectuals pursuing the truth and challenging convention.
Youโre the leaders of tomorrow, but itโs coming on you really quickly.ย
Because of you, I see a future we can finally move away from the narrowed and cramped view that the promise of America is a zero-sum game: โIf you succeed, I fail.โ โIf you get ahead, I fall behind.โ And maybe worst of all, โIf I canโt hold you down, I canโt lift myself up.โ
Instead of what it should be, โIf you do well, we all do well.โย Thatโs what I see in you. Thatโs what I see in America. And more Americans areโa future of possibilities for all Americans.ย
Look, no matterโthat futureโwhat it holds, my sincere hope is that each of you find a sweet spot between happiness, success, and ambition. Thatโa good life. A life of purpose.
Because hereโs the thing: You donโt know where or what fate will bring you or when. You just have to keep going. You have to just keep the faith. You have to just get up.ย
And you can find the balance between ambition and happiness and successโthat good life of purpose, of family, and, as you know here at Howard, of excellence, leadership, and truth and service. There is no quit in you. There is no quit in America.
So, let me close with this. In our lives and in the life of the nation, we know that fear can shadow hope. But itโs also true that hope can defeat fear.
In January of 2021, I stood at the U.S. Capitol to be inaugurated as President of the United States. Just days before, on that very spot, a violent insurrection took place. A dagger at the throat of democracy. For the first time in our history, an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power in this country.
And they failed. Our democracy held. Again, hope prevailed.ย
And this time, I was standing with a Black woman about to take a two-mile procession down Pennsylvania Avenue as President and Vice President of the United States of America.
And who was marching alongside her? The Howard University Marching Band in lockstep and solidarity. You were.
I give you my word as a Biden: Class of 2023, youโre the reason Iโm so optimistic about the future. And I give you my word, I really mean it. Youโre part of the most gifted, tolerant, talented, best-educated generation in American history. Thatโs a fact.ย
And itโs your generation, more than anyone elseโs, who will answer the questions for America: Who are we? What do we stand for? What do you believe? What do we believe? What do we want to be?
Iโm not saying you have to share this burden all on your own. The task at hand ahead is the work of all of us.
But what I am saying is: You represent the best of us. And thatโs the Godโs truth. You represent the best of us.ย
Your generation will not be ignored, will not be shunned, will not be silenced.ย
So on the hilltop high, keep standing for truth and right, and send your rays of light.
Congratulations to you all. We need you.ย
God bless you. And may God protect our troops.