2020 Health Stemencement

First, I’d like to thank the graduating class of 2020. You’ve done a lot of hard work. I want to take this time to give you some advice about sticking to your convictions in the face of unjust systems. The scientist in me can’t help but orient you to how I’ve arranged my comments, the nurse in me wants to ensure that we all come along for the ride. I wish I could say that you will bring all of the gifts and talents to a public health infrastructure to transform the nation’s health — but the truth is, as COVID-19 has laid bare for all to see, so many of the flaws that need a do-over, a reimagining, and re-conceptualization. I’m going to use three quotes that have been instrumental in my orientation to my work. The first quote is from Toni Morrison who told us long ago: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.” I say this to you in the midst of a pandemic that ironically hit us during the World Health Organizations designation of 2020 being the year of the nurse and the midwife. Odd times indeed. Social justice work isn’t just about an outcome, it’s also about the process. It is lifelong work and yet people think we are going to train our way out of racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and every other socially constructed system we use to keep from connecting and unleashing the creativity of humanity.

Which brings me to my second point, wisdom from Oprah, cause what graduation speech would not be complete without Oprah? I have heard this quote two different ways, so I will present them together: “You can have it all. Just not all at once.” And the version I prefer: “You can have it all. Just not at the same time.” It took me forever to figure out what she was trying to tell us, but once I got it, it completely re-oriented me to managing my expectations of others. Remember, YOU are the experts of your own lives — consider all advice (including mine) with a grain of salt and use the lens that will allow you to be your most authentic self — where ever you work, whatever you do. Rebuilding our public health and clinical workforce and human places to work post pandemic shouldn’t exclusively be your job, and yet here we are. You are not alone and we will do our part. Pandemics are not normal, so let’s stop acting like they are and we can just get over it.

My final point is the most important. bell hooks said: “Sometimes people try to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power — not because they don’t see it, but because they see it and they don’t want it to exist.” I have always been a person who believes in things I can’t see, things that don’t exist. As a geeky, GenX, child of the 80s, the idea that things that don’t exist are automatically scary or impossible is a very foreign concept to me. So, when people ask me about my work and how is it that I’m not frustrated, angry, depressed, and part of the posse that thinks that the world is on fire, I always say anything is possible. But let me clarify, being a Black person, and Black woman in the world requires this mindset. It acknowledges a simple truth that no one wants to admit — this was all built, and it doesn’t have to be this way.

In unjust times, it is essential to double down on what matters. Our institutions, our relationships, FACTS and EVIDENCE. We have seen some of the most extreme behavior from public individuals, elected officials, mentors, idols, stars, and leaders. From inaction on gun violence (both by the police and in schools) to the gutting of the social safety net, to the exchange of religious ideology for evidence informed policy, to the Me Too movement and Time’s Up and a failed public health response to COVID-19, we have seen on our watch extreme behavior. Remember, we have to teach people how we want to be treated, how we want to engage with them and envision a future that we all want to live in.

I charge you as you move forward with your new education, your new learning, your new understanding of information, evidence, and data, that the most important thing you can do to tell the truth, remember no human is illegal on one planet of many in our galaxy and our universe, that facts matter, and in all of the noise, chaos, fatigue and frustration — I charge you to do what you have been well trained to do — use every skill you have to create change and envision a world that no one has seen yet, because I believe it’s possible, it can all be different, and it is up to us to make it so. Congratulations, and I look forward to working with you and see what you can imagine.