Transcript of President Barack Obama's Commencement Address at Hampton University

WTKR-TV3 ^ | May.09.10 | WTKR-TV3

[fight_truth_decay]

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Hampton. Thank you, Class of 2010. (Applause.) Please, everybody, please have a seat.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you!

THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.) That's why I'm here. I love you guys.

Good morning, everybody.

AUDIENCE: Good morning.

THE PRESIDENT: To all the mothers in the house: As somebody who is surrounded by women in the White House -- (laughter) -- grew up surrounded by women, let me take a moment just to say thank you for all that you put up with each and every day. We are so grateful to you, and it is fitting to have such a beautiful day when we celebrate all our mothers. Thank you to Hampton for allowing me to share this special occasion -- to all the dignitaries who are here, the trustees, the alumni, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins -- that's a cousin over there. (Laughter).

Now, before we get started, I just want to say, I'm excited the Battle of the Real H.U. will be taking place in Washington this year. (Laughter.) You know I am not going to pick sides. (Laughter.) But my understanding is it's been 13 years since the Pirates lost. (Applause.) As one Hampton alum on my staff put it, the last time Howard beat Hampton, The Fugees were still together. (Laughter.)

Well, let me also say a word about President Harvey, a man who bleeds Hampton blue. In a single generation, Hampton has transformed from a small black college into a world-class research institution. (Applause.) And that transformation has come through the efforts of many people, but it has come through President Harvey's efforts, in particular, and I want to commend him for his outstanding leadership as well as his great friendship to me. (Applause.)

Most of all, I want to congratulate all of you, the Class of 2010. I gather that none of you walked across Ogden Circle. (Laughter.) You did? Okay.

You know, we meet here today, as graduating classes have met for generations, not far from where it all began, near that old oak tree off Emancipation Drive. I know my University 101. (Laughter and applause.) There, beneath its branches, by what was then a Union garrison, about 20 students gathered on September 17th, 1861. Taught by a free citizen, in defiance of Virginia law, the students were escaped slaves from nearby plantations, who had fled to the fort seeking asylum.

And after the war's end, a retired Union general sought to enshrine that legacy of learning. So with a collection from church groups, Civil War veterans, and a choir that toured Europe, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was founded here, by the Chesapeake –- a home by the sea.

Now, that story is no doubt familiar to many of you. But it's worth reflecting on why it happened; why so many people went to such trouble to found Hampton and all our Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The founders of these institutions knew, of course, that inequality would persist long into the future. They were not naïve. They recognized that barriers in our laws, and in our hearts, wouldn't vanish overnight.

But they also recognized the larger truth; a distinctly American truth. They recognized, Class of 2010, that the right education might allow those barriers to be overcome; might allow our God-given potential to be fulfilled. They recognized, as Frederick Douglass once put it, that "education…means emancipation." They recognized that education is how America and its people might fulfill our promise. That recognition, that truth –- that an education can fortify us to rise above any barrier, to meet any test –- is reflected, again and again, throughout our history.

In the midst of civil war, we set aside land grants for schools like Hampton to teach farmers and factory-workers the skills of an industrializing nation. At the close of World War II, we made it possible for returning GIs to attend college, building and broadening our great middle class. At the Cold War's dawn, we set up Area Studies Centers on our campuses to prepare graduates to understand and address the global threats of a nuclear age.

So education is what has always allowed us to meet the challenges of a changing world. And Hampton, that has never been more true than it is today. This class is graduating at a time of great difficulty for America and for the world. You're entering a job market, in an era of heightened international competition, with an economy that's still rebounding from the worst crisis since the Great Depression. You're accepting your degrees as America still wages two wars –- wars that many in your generation have been fighting.

And meanwhile, you're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations -- none of which I know how to work -- (laughter) -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.

Class of 2010, this is a period of breathtaking change, like few others in our history. We can't stop these changes, but we can channel them, we can shape them, we can adapt to them. And education is what can allow us to do so. It can fortify you, as it did earlier generations, to meet the tests of your own time.

And first and foremost, your education can fortify you against the uncertainties of a 21st century economy. In the 19th century, folks could get by with a few basic skills, whether they learned them in a school like Hampton, or picked them up along the way. As long as you were willing to work, for much of the 20th century, a high school diploma was a ticket into a solid middle class life. That is no longer the case.

Jobs today often require at least a bachelor's degree, and that degree is even more important in tough times like these. In fact, the unemployment rate for folks who've never gone to college is over twice as high as for folks with a college degree or more.

Now, the good news is you're already ahead of the curve. All those checks you or your parents wrote to Hampton will pay off. (Laughter.) You're in a strong position to outcompete workers around the world. But I don't have to tell you that too many folks back home aren't as well prepared. Too many young people, just like you, are not as well prepared. By any number of different yardsticks, African Americans are being outperformed by their white classmates, as are Hispanic Americans. Students in well-off areas are outperforming students in poorer rural or urban communities, no matter what skin color.

[fight_truth_decay]

Excerpt Christian Science Monitor"Obama is the 10th president to visit the private university of about 6,000 students, founded in 1868 near the site where a free Virginian taught classes to escaped slaves against state law. It was Obama's second commencement address this season, and his first as president at a historically black college."

Obama said many Americans do not have access to education, and the nation must ensure that they get it."

"All of us have a responsibility, as Americans, to change this, to offer every single child in this country an education that will make them competitive in our knowledge economy. That is our obligation as a nation," the president said."

"University officials presented Obama with a seedling from the Emancipation Oak, under which escaped slaves once were taught and where President Abraham Lincoln later came to read the Emancipation Proclamation."

[barbarianbabs]

obama is a girl

[John-Irish]

Why do all black colleges even exist in 21st.century America?

[Rome2000]

What an unbelievably racist blue lipped commie son of a whore.

[fatnotlazy]

“I love you back.”

***

Yeah, right. The man is incapable of love or any decent human emotion.

[Rome2000]

information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.

The marxist doesn't like all that "information" going on around out here.

[Sacajaweau]

91% black....Pretty unbelievable

[fatnotlazy]

“Obama said many Americans do not have access to education...”

***

Horse puckies. The education is there. You have to work for it. That’s the trouble...people just want to have everything handed to them...to have government take care of them.

Once again, Obama lies through his teeth. And he perpetuates the same old tired rhetoric in order to divide this nation.

[Carley]

We all know that libraries charge admission.

All the books are marked WHITES ONLY

And the librarians are all members of the KKK and don’t admit blacks.

[mojitojoe]

[mojitojoe]

Yes, he is.

[fight_truth_decay]

Information Summary

Ranks 505th overall and 16th in Virginia

Overall Score On StateUniversity.com (about)	83.4
Total Cost On-Campus Attendance	$25,202
Admission Success rate	49%
ACT / SAT 75 %ile scores	26 / 1198
Student Ratio Ratio of students to faculty	13 : 1
Retention (Full-Time / Part-Time)	75% / 67%
Enrollment Total (all students)	6,152	http://www.stateuniversity.com/universities/VA/Hampton_University.html

[JPG]

Wrong. Barky feels the emotion of love when he gazes into the mirror.

[Paul46360]

This was reported also @
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hcoyG-Ck3-VwZB7fqpUFXbffoObg

"He drew a line between Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and today's challenges. "What Jefferson recognized... that in the long run, their improbable experiment -- called America -- wouldn't work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn't have the best interests of all the people at heart."

YOU ARE DAMN RIGHT BARRY...That is what WE THE PEOPLE ARE DOING..

[fight_truth_decay]

[Founder]Armstrong’s thoughts on the mission for such a school?

“The thing to be done was clear”, he said. He thought that the school had, “to train selected Negro youths who should go out and teach and lead their people. First by example, by getting land and homes. To give them not a dollar that they could earn for themselves. To teach respect for labor. To replace stupid drudgery with skilled hands. And in this way, to build up an industrial system for the sake of not only self support and intelligent labor, but also for the sake of character.” With these thoughts as his guide, Gen. Armstrong opened the doors to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute on April 1,1868 with a matron, a teacher, and 15 students."

Indian Education at Hampton

Women’s Rights Advocate

"Gen. Armstrong very eloquently argued that , “ . . . there is no civilization without educated women”, and begged the Secretary to allow him to try the experiment. Secretary Schurz, as did practically everyone else, succumbed to Gen. Armstrong’s persuasiveness and gave the approval for Indian girls to come to Hampton. Therefore, in November 1878 some 40 boys and 9 girls, chiefly Sioux joined the other Indians at Hampton."

"Just as with blacks, Gen. Armstrong’s experiment with Indians was an overwhelming success. The federal government supported the venture until the turn of the century. At that time, some Southern congressmen were able to stop the effort because they objected to race mixing

between the blacks and the Indians.

Gee...I can only guess who these Southern congressmen could be & what party affiliation.

Southern Manifesto 1956. The manifesto was signed by 101 politicians (99 Democrats and 2 Republicans) from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. [1] The document was largely drawn up to counter the landmark Supreme Court 1954 ruling Brown v. Board of Education, The initial version was written by Strom Thurmond and the final version mainly by Richard Russell.[2] The manifesto was signed by 19 Senators and 82 members of the House of Representatives, including the entire congressional delegations of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. All of the signatures were Southern Democrats except two: Republicans Joel Broyhill and Richard Poff of Virginia by legislators in the United States Congress opposed to racial integration in public places.[1] The manifesto was signed by 101 politicians (99 Democrats and 2 Republicans) from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. [1] The document was largely drawn up to counter the landmark Supreme Court 1954 ruling Brown v. Board of Education,..."

"The initial version was written by Strom Thurmond and the final version mainly by Richard Russell.[2]

[TXnMA]

Fairly good speech write / teleprompter pilot. They followed the old Bob Hope trick of sending our advance troops to pick up local color to be inserted in the speech to simu / stimu - late an illusion of belonging...

[seton89]

What do the four velvet stripes indicate on the other potentate’s academic gown?

[John-Irish]

No Marxist likes the people to be informed. It’s important they know only what the marxists want them to know.

[John-Irish]

How is this possible in America today?

[mellow velo]

information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.

Rather disturbing, his opinion on "information".

And on Monica Crowley's weekly radio show, she pointed out (and played the audio several times) that he actually said, "ePancipation". Imagine if GWB had stumbled over that pronunciation?!