Posted on 05/08/2017 5:31:20 PM PDT by TigerClaws
Two days before Courtney Woods dresses in a cap and gown for Harvards traditional commencement, she will don a stole made of African kente cloth and address the crowd at a somewhat different event: a graduation ceremony for black students.
Student organizers said the event, called Black Commencement 2017, is the first universitywide ceremony for black students at Harvard, and is designed to celebrate their unique struggles and achievements at an elite institution that has been grappling with its historic ties to slavery.
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More than 170 students and 530 guests have signed up to attend the ceremony, which will be held May 23 at Holmes Field, near the Harvard Law School campus. The event will feature speeches by black students, alumni, and administrators.
I can only imagine how special I will feel when I walk across that stage and be able to honor my identity and my struggle at Harvard, said Woods, who is completing a masters degree at the Graduate School of Education. I know this is exactly what students like me need to be inspired as we leave this place as emerging global leaders.
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Sign Up Similar ceremonies have been held for Harvard undergraduates as well as for students at Stanford, Columbia, Temple, and other campuses. On May 23, Harvard will also hold its third annual graduation ceremony for students of Latin American descent.
The ceremony for black students was created during a period of heightened activism related to racism on college campuses, and in the country at large from the Black Lives Matter movement to the increased focus on micro-aggressions, passing comments that seem to trivialize or marginalize the experiences of minorities.
At Harvard, the campus has also undergone a season of soul-searching.
I thought that the blacks were against segregation.
The elitist powers-that-be are chuckling tonight. The dumbing-down is almost complete. They can pull ANYTHING on these people and get away with it.
Aww man, whatever happened to Ebony & Ivory? Guess I’m gonna have to get a new piano.
First blacks want to be treated like everyone else and then they perform some silly stunt like this to separate themselves.....go figure.
Well, they didn’t get in legitimately so they shouldn’t graduate legitimately either.
Good. I never thought I would say that in my life. But we need segregation again. Too many innocent people are dying and being bullied by America’s top racists these days.
Segregation fo' EVAH! ...
Bleh ...
The worst racists in America today are blacks. "La Raza" are a distant second.
Hail Graduation! HAIL VICTORY!!!
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