In 2007, then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama came to Howard to deliver the convocation address to much excitement and fanfare. Fast-forward to 2012 and Barack Obama was re-elected as President of the United States. On the night of his victory, Howard University students traveled to the White House to celebrate Obama's triumph. As Obama was the first black person to occupy the white house, his re-election meant a great deal to the mostly black student body of Howard University. Many of the Howard University Students who celebrated at the White House that day had been in high school when Obama was first elected to presidential office in 2008. President Obama has always been a huge source of pride for the black community due to not only being president but the poise and coolness with which he has held the office. Charles Witlock II, a graduating senior, described Obama being announced as the commencement speaker as "the realization of a dream come true."
President Obama, now in the final year of his last term as president, gave the commencement address at Howard University's graduation, completing a full circle journey that began at Howard in 2007 and ended with Howard's 2016 graduation.These graduating seniors and President Obama both experienced trials and tribulations but both have also been made stronger by these challenges, and both leave their respective domain in better shape than when they left.
Obama did not disappoint with his commencement address. His speech was funny, poignant and inspiring. Obama spoke on blackness, urged the Howard University class of 2016 to embrace their blackness however they express it, and to be prepared to change the course of history like so many Howard graduates before them. Imagine the inspiration and joy you would feel as a black graduate from the most prestigious HBCU in the country hearing the first black president tell you to make sure to embrace your blackness. A trait that Obama has personified through criticisms from failed presidential candidates like Ben Carson and from Harvard professors like Cornel West. These men accuse Obama of not being black enough or scared of black men due to his upbringing by white grandparents. Knowing these crticisms of Obama made it that much more impactful when he stated there is no one way to be black and that blackness cannot be quantified or judged hearing that up close from the most powerful man in the world black or otherwise was extremely powerful.
The Howard University class of 2016 experienced a commencement unlike any other in the history of the school—one that can never be replicated, even if another president was to speak at Howard University.
A journey was started by a senator from Illinois hoping to become the first black president of the United States in 2007 at Howard University, and in 2016, after serving two successful terms, a farewell tour of sorts begins as President Barack Obama prepares for the next phase of his life; so too does the graduating class of 2016 who as freshmen in high school watched Barack Obama become president, as freshman in college celebrated when he was re-elected, and who now, as senior, prepare to watch him go and prepare for their new journey. I know they will heed the words of president and forge their own path to greatness.
