That's a Morehouse man talking

Now, think about it

For black men in the '40s and the '50s

The threat of violence, the constant humiliations, large and small

The uncertainty that you could support a family

The gnawing doubts born of the Jim crow culture that told you

Every day that somehow you were inferior

The temptation to shrink from the world, to accept your place

To avoid risks, to be afraid

That temptation was necessarily strong

And yet, here, under the tutelage of men like Dr. Mays

Young martin learned to be unafraid

And he, in turn, taught others to be unafraid

And over time, he taught a nation to be unafraid

And over the last 50 years

Thanks to the moral force of Dr. King and a Moses generation

That overcame their fear and their cynicism and their despair

Barriers have come tumbling down

And new doors of opportunity have swung open

And laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point

Where someone who looks just like you

Can somehow come to serve as president of these united states of America

So the history we share should give you hope

The future we share should give you hope

You're graduating into an improving job market

You're living in a time when advances in technology and communication

Put at your fingertips