米歇尔在2014迪拉德大学毕业典礼上的演讲

　　We don’t exactly know what happened on that day, but we do know that when Emperor turned32, after more than three decades in bondage, he became a free man. He decided to stay inNew Orleans, and he went on to become a minister -- even founded a church right here in town.And in 1869, when abolitionists, missionaries, black folks and white folks came together tocreate a school for freed slaves here in New Orleans, Emperor was one of the original signersof the charter.

　　They decided to name the school New Orleans University, because even though most of theclasses would be taught at a high school level or below, oh, their aspirations were much higherthan that. And when they laid the cornerstone for that university’s first building down on St.Charles Avenue, Emperor got a chance to speak.

　　He said -- and these are his words -- he said, “For twenty years I was a slave on these streets.It was a penitentiary offense to educate a Negro. I have seen my fellow-servants whipped fortrying to learn; but today here I am [am I], speaking where a building is to be erected for theeducation of the children of my people.” He goes on to say, “I wonder if this is the world I wasborn in.”

　　See, in the course of his short lifetime, Emperor saw education go from being a crime for blackfolks to being a real possibility for his kids and grandkids. So no wonder he was asking whetherthis was the same world he’d been born into. See, for a man like Emperor, getting an educationcould open up a whole new world of opportunity. An education meant having real power. Itmeant you could manage your own money. It meant you couldn’t get swindled out of land orpossessions when somebody told you to just sign on the dotted line; sometimes evendetermined whether or not you could vote.

　　So most folks back then saw education as the key to real and lasting freedom. That’s why,when New Orleans University and the other African American college in town, StraightUniversity, first opened their doors, one of the biggest problems they faced was too manystudents. That’s right -- too many students. Many of these students barely spoke English;they’d grown up speaking Creole or French. Few had ever seen the inside of a classroom oreven been taught their ABCs.

　　But let me tell you, those students were hungry -- you hear me? Hungry. They studied like theirlives depended on it. They blazed through their lessons. And that hunger for education lastedfor generations in the African American community here in New Orleans.

　　When an arsonist set fire to the school’s library in 1877, they built a new one. When those twooriginal schools ran into financial troubles years later, they started making plans to build aneven bigger and better university. And in the 1930s, when white folks complained that this newschool would mean too many black students on their buses, the folks at the school got the cityto add a bus line just for their students, because nothing -- nothing -- was going to stop themfrom achieving the vision of those early founders. (Applause.)

　　And finally, in May of 1934, they broke ground for this school, Dillard University -- (applause) -- a university that would go on to produce some of the leading thinkers and achievers in ourcountry. And the day the cornerstone was laid for your library, the President of HowardUniversity spoke these words: He said, “There lies in this Southland today, buried in unmarkedgraves, many a black genius who would have blessed this city and this section of our country,if [only] his parents could have had before them the Dillard University you are now building.”

　　And in the years since then, through segregation and depression, through threats of violenceand the floodwaters of a devastating storm, students like you have come here to study and tolearn, and to carry forward those hopes and dreams. And today, I stand before a sea of younggeniuses. Oh, yeah. (Applause.)

　　So, graduates, I hope that you understand that this day is not just the culmination of yourown dreams, but the realization of the dreams of so many who came before you. And youshould be so proud, and so happy, and so excited about your futures. But what you shouldn’tbe is satisfied. (Applause.) See, because while it is a wonderful thing that all of you are heretoday, we have to ask ourselves, what about all those geniuses who never get this chance?

　　I’m talking about the young people from right here in New Orleans and across the country whoaren’t part of a commencement like this one today, kids no different from all of us, kids whonever made it out of high school. The fact is that today, the high school graduation rate forblack students is improving, but it is still lower than just about any other group in this country.And while college graduation rates have risen for nearly every other demographic, includingAfrican American women, the college graduation rate for African American men has flatlined.