00:00Immaculate Heart High School graduating class of 2020. For the past couple weeks
00:07I've been planning on saying a few words to you for your graduation and as we've
00:13all seen over the last week what is happening in our country and in our
00:18state and in our hometown of LA has been absolutely devastating and I wasn't
00:30sure what I could say to you I wanted to say the right thing and I was really
00:35nervous that I I wouldn't or that it would get picked apart and I realized
00:40the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing because George Floyd's life
00:49mattered and Brianna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and
00:54Tamir Rice's life mattered and so did so many other people whose names we know
01:03and whose names we do not know Stefan Clark his life mattered
01:10and I was thinking about this moment when I was a sophomore in high school I
01:15was 15 and as you know sophomore year is the year that we do volunteer work which
01:22is a prerequisite for graduating and I remember my teacher at the time one of
01:27my teachers Miss Palia said to me before I was leaving for a day of volunteering
01:32always remember to put others needs above your own fears and that has stuck with
01:43me through my entire life and I have thought about it more in the last week
01:46than ever before so the first thing I want to say to you is that I'm sorry I am so
01:54sorry that you have to grow up in a world where this is still present I was 11 or
02:0412 years old when I was just about to start Immaculate Heart Middle School in
02:11the fall and it was the LA riots which was also triggered by a senseless act of
02:20racism and I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home and on that
02:30drive home seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke and seeing the
02:36smoke billow out of buildings and seeing people run out of buildings carrying bags
02:40and looting and I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and
02:46rifles and I remember pulling up to the house and seeing the tree that had always
02:52been there completely charred and those memories don't go away and I can't
03:03imagine that at 17 or 18 years old which is how old you are now that you would
03:11have to have a different version of that same type of experience that's something
03:15that you should have an understanding of but an understanding an understanding of
03:19as a history lesson not as your reality so I am sorry that in a way we have not
03:25gotten the world to the place that you deserve it to be the other thing though
03:32that I do remember about that time was how people came together and we are seeing
03:38that right now we are seeing that from the sheriff in Michigan or the police chief
03:43in Virginia we are seeing people stand in solidarity we are seeing communities
03:47come together and to uplift and you are going to be part of this movement I know
03:57that this is not the graduation that you envisioned and this is not the
04:03celebration that you imagined but I also know that there's a way for us to
04:07reframe this for you and to not see this as the end of something but instead to see
04:11this as the beginning of you harnessing all of the work all the values all the
04:17skills that you have that you have embodied over the last four years and now
04:23you channel that now all of that work gets activated now you get to be part of
04:29rebuilding and I know sometimes people say how many times do we need to rebuild
04:33well you know what we are going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild until it is
04:38rebuilt because when the foundation is broken so are we you are going to lead
04:46with love you are going to lead with compassion you are going to use your
04:49voice you are going to use your voice in a stronger way than you've ever been
04:53able to because most of you are 18 or you're going to turn 18 so you're going to
04:57vote you are going to have empathy for those who don't see the world through the
05:04same lens that you do because with as diverse and vibrant and open-minded as I
05:10know the teachings and immaculate heart are I know you know that black lives
05:13matter so I am already excited for what you are going to do in the world you are
05:21equipped you are ready we need you and you are prepared I am so proud to call each of
05:28you a fellow alumni and I'm so eager to see what you're going to do please know
05:35that I am cheering you on all along the way I am exceptionally proud of you and I'm
05:41wishing you a huge congratulations on today the start of all the impact you're
05:46going to make in the world as the leaders that we all so deeply crave
05:50congratulations ladies and thank you in advance
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