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President Biden’s Full Howard University Commencement Address
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “You’re the scientists, the doctors, the advocates who will bring — do big things like ending cancer as we know it and even curing some cancers, which we’re on our way of doing. You’re the diplomats and global citizens making democracy work for people around the world. Lawyers defending our rights. Artists shaping our culture. Fearless journalists. This is real, though. You’re – this is what you’re doing. Fearless journalists and intellectuals pursuing the truth and challenging convention.
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You are here with your heart and through the heartache, through blood, sweat, and tears of everything that’s came before, for everything yet to come. You are here at a new moment of hope and possibilities.
But, graduates, before we begin, as mentioned many times, tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Stand for your mothers and grandmothers. Stand and thank them.
Where I come from, moms rule.
To my friend – and he is my friend – Congressman Jim Clyburn, the thing that I admire most about you, Jim, is your absolute integrity in everything you do – in everything you do. This is a man of honor.
I attended South Carolina State University’s commencement as Jim received his degree, he earned 60 years ago but never got a chance to receive it in person.
Jim, it’s an honor to join you here today and receive an honorary degree from this great university.
And it’s truly special – special to join fellow honorees. Prime Minister Rowley, I didn’t know you were so talented. I just thought you were foreign policies – you know, Latin American guy. I – you know, I – we got to talk.
All kidding aside, thank you for being a strong partner in the Caribbean and for addressing climate change and supporting democracies across the Western Hemisphere.
I’m also honored that – there’s a person here today, Dr. Tony Allen. He is President of my home state [H]BCU, Delaware State University, where I got politically started.
I was fortunate to have Tony as a Senate staffer for a long time. Then he got his PhD, had a distinguished career in business, and became president of an HBCU.
Now Tony chairs my White House Board of Advisors on HBCUs, which is designed to support and advance HBCU excellence with a lot more money.
I’m also proud to say that we’re the first White House to formally convene where the real power is: The Divine Nine. Oh, you all – you all think I’m kidding? Not a joke.
The Divine Nine not only has a seat at the table, we definitely hear you at the table. And there, first time ever, at the White House permanently.
So, folks, in 2023, I’m truly honored to be here at Howard.
Chartered 156 years ago by an act of Congress just after Emancipation and the Civil War. Founded – founded on a hilltop in Washington, D.C. The Mecca. The Mecca.
Always promoting, excellence, leadership, and truth and service. It really has. And a proving ground for future leaders of science, medicine, education, business, faith, arts, entertainment, and public service.
Trailblazing intellectuals, lawyers, doctors. The first Black – I might say – Vice President of the United States of America. You can say that again.
Kamala sends her love. And she sent a clear message that today I have the privilege, as she points out, of speaking at the real H-U.
Now you realize that’s going to cost me at home.
This – there’s enormous pride in this university founded in the verses of the Howard anthem. And I quote, “Reared against the eastern sky, proudly there on hilltop high… There she stands for truth and right, sending forth her rays of light.” It matters. It matters. It matters.
We’re living through one of the most consequential moments in our history with fundamental questions at stake for our nation.
Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be? You’re going to help answer those questions.
Let me take you back to January of 2009. I stood in Wilmington, Delaware, on the train station of Amtrak, carrying my folder waiting to be picked up by a guy named Barack Obama.
The first Black man elected President of the United States.
I was there to join him as Vice President on the way to the historic inauguration in Washington. A moment of extraordinary hope, but also, as I stood there – and this is the God’s truth – I couldn’t help think about another day I stood there.
I wasn’t much more than your age. I’d just got out of law school.
I was a public – I had gone to work for a big firm, but my state – because when Dr. King was assassinated, parts of it were – my city – parts were burned to the ground. We had a very conservative governor.
He stationed the National Guard on every corner with drawn bayonets for 10 months. I quit and became a public defender.
And I used to have to introduce my clients – no, that’s not so noble – I had to interview my clients down at the Wilmington train station when they were arrested.
On the east side – that’s where they’d be taken in the aftermath of the riots that burned Wilmington following his assassination.
In 2009, while waiting for Barack, I was both living history at the same time I was reliving it. A vivid demonstration: When it comes to race in America, hope doesn’t travel alone.
It’s shadowed by fear, by violence, and by hate.
But after the election and the re-election of the first Black American President, I had hoped that the fear of violence and hate was significantly losing ground.
After being – no longer being Vice President, I became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania for four years.
But in 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, crazed neo-Nazis with angry faces came out of the fields with – literally with torches, carrying Nazi banners from the woods and the fields chanting the same antisemitic bile heard across Europe in the ‘30s.
Something that I never thought I would ever see in America.
Accompanied by Klansmen and white supremacists, emerging from dark rooms and remote fields and the anonymity of the Internet, confronting decent Americans of all backgrounds standing in their way, into the bright light of day.
And a young woman objecting to their presence was killed.
And what did you hear? That famous quote. When asked about what happened, that famous quote. “There are very fine people on both sides.”
That’s when I knew – and I’m not joking – that’s when I knew I had to stay engaged and get back into public life. No, I – I don’t say it for that reason. I say it for the journey.
I don’t have to tell you that fearless progress towards justice often meets ferocious pushback from the oldest and most sinister of forces. That’s because hate never goes away.
I thought, when I graduated, we could defeat hate. But it never goes away. It only hides under the rocks. And when it’s given oxygen, it comes out from under that rock.
And that’s why we know this truth as well: Silence is complicity.
It cannot remain silent. We are living through this battle for the soul of the nation. And it is still a battle for the soul of the nation.
What is the soul of a nation? Well, I believe the soul is the breath, the life, the essence of who we are. The soul makes us, “us.”
The soul of America is what makes us unique among all nations. We’re the only country founded on an idea – not geography, not religion, not ethnicity, but an idea.
The sacred proposition rooted in Scripture and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that we’re all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.
While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, we never before fully walked away from it.
We know that American history has not always been a fairytale.
From the start, it’s been a constant push and pull for more than 240 years between the best of us, the American ideal that we’re all create equal – and the worst of us, the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart.
It’s a battle that’s never really over.
But on the best days, enough of us have the guts and the hearts to st- – to stand up for the best in us.
To choose love over hate, unity over disunion, progress over retreat. To stand up against the poison of white supremacy, as I did in my Inaugural Address – to single it out as the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy.
And I’m not saying this because I’m at a Black HBCU. I say it wherever I go.
To stand up for truth over lies – lies told for power and profit.
To confront the ongoing assault to subvert our elections and suppress our right to vote. That assault came just as you cast your first ballots in ‘20 and ‘22.
Record turnouts. You delivered historic progress.
I made it clear that America – Americans of all backgrounds have an obligation to call out political violence that has been unleashed and emboldened.
As was mentioned already, bomb threats to this very university and HBCUs across the country.
To put democracy on the ballot.
To reject political extremism and reject political violence.
Protect fundamental rights and freedoms for women to choose and for transgender children to be free.
For affordable healthcare and housing.
For the right to raise your family and retire with dignity.
To stand with leaders of your generation who give voice to the people, demanding action on gun violence only to be expelled from state legislative bodies.
To stand against books being banned and Black history being erased.
I’m serious. Think about it.
To stand up for the best in us.
And today, I come here to Howard to continue the work to redeem the soul of this nation, because it’s here where I see the future.
And I’m not – that’s not hyperbole.
We can finally resolve those ongoing questions about who we are as a nation. That puts strength of our diversity at the center of American life.
A future that celebrates and learns from history.
A future for all Americans. A future I see you leading. And I’m not, again, exaggerating. You are going to be leading it.
Again, let’s be clear: There are those who don’t see you and don’t want this future.
There are those who demonize and pit people against one another. And there are those who do anything and everything, no matter how desperate or immoral, to hold onto power. And that’s never going to be an easy battle.
But I know this: The oldest, most sinister forces may believe they’ll determine America’s future, but they are wrong.
We will determine America’s future. You will determine America’s future. And that’s not hyperbole.
No graduating class gets to choose the world into which they graduate. Every class enters the history of a nation up to the point it has been written by others.
But few classes, once in every several generations, enter at a point in our history where it actually has a chance to change the trajectory of the country.
You face that inflection point today, and I know you will meet the moment. I – just think about the many ways you already have.
With your voices and votes, I was able to fill my commitment to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
And, by the way, she’s brighter than the rest.
She is one bright woman.
Because of you, more Black women have been appointed to the federal appellate courts under – than under every other President in American history combined.
And, by the way, I mean it. I mean it. Because of you. Because of you.
You turned out. You spoke up. You knew. You showed up, and the votes counted. And you made people say, “Whoa, wait a minute.
What price will I pay if I don’t do the following?”
You feel the promise and the peril of climate change. Because of you, we’re making the biggest investment ever in the history of the world in climate change.
Don’t ever think your voice doesn’t matter.
I’m keeping my promise that no one should be in jail merely because of using or possessing marijuana. Their records should be expunged – just expunged.
My student debt relief plan would help – tens of millions of people, especially those on Pell Grants.
Seventy percent of Black college students receive Pell Grants. Many of you, the savings would be significant and even wiping out student debt completely for some.
But – this new Republican Party is dead set against it, suing my administration to stop you from getting student debt relief.
The same opposition who received relief loans, I might add, to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic – members of the Congress – worth thousands, even millions of dollars – most of which didn’t have to be paid back. Yet, they say it’s okay for them but not for you. I find it outrageous.
To reduce your debt service payments when you graduate, we’re also ensuring that no one – no one with an undergraduate loan today or in the future will have to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income to repay their loans, down from 10. And in 20 years, it’s gone.
Republican officials are fighting that as well. But I will always keep fighting for you. And many others will – and many in the Republican Party as well will fight for you.
But we also know there is more to do. Because of your power, we took the most significant law on gun violence – we passed it – the most significant law in 30 years.
But we will not give up. I got the Assault Weapons Ban passed 30 years ago, and we’re going to pass it again.
We must pass it.
And there’s more to do on police reform and public safety.
During the State of the Union, I asked the rest of the country to imagine having to talk to their children and their families like your families had to talk to you.
It’s about your security. It’s about your dignity.
It’s demeaning and degrading and deadly when you just have to stand there and say, “When you’re stopped, turn the interior light on, put both hands on the wheel, don’t reach for your license.” What in the hell is going on in America?
No, think about it.
I ask all the parents of non-minority children to ask what they would say, what they would do.
I know you’re frustrated that there are so many elected officials who refuse to pass a law that will do something.
Kamala and I stood next to the family of George Floyd and civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials to sign the executive order I came up with requiring the key elements of the George Floyd bill be applied to federal law enforcement: banning chokeholds, restricting no-knock warrants, establishing a database for police misconduct, advancing effective and accountable community policing that builds public trust.
And we’ll keep fighting to pass the reforms nationwide.
Equal justice is a covenant we have with each other. It must not just be an ideal; it has to be a reality.
You’re leading the way on this and so much more.
That’s why Kamala and I are so committed to investing in you and HBCUs. HBCUs help produce 40 percent of Black engineers; 50 percent of Black lawyers; 70 percent of Black doctors and dentists; 80 percent of Black judges.
Look, we see HBCU excellence in every day, with staff at every level of the White House and the administration, because I decided when I was elected, I promised I was going to have my administration would look like America.
But we all know that HBCUs don’t have the same endowments and funding as other major colleges and universities.
For example, denying the opportunity to build and fund research labs that will lead to new technologies and good-paying jobs.
That’s why I asked, and we’ve invested $6 billion and counting in HBCUs, including to create new research and development labs that prepare students for jobs of the future in high-income fields, from cybersecurity, engineering, biochemistry, healthcare.
Standing here, I think the last time I came to Howard with President Frederick and others was in my final year as Vice President to host the Cancer Moonshot on campus, because you are leading the way.
You’re the scientists, the doctors, the advocates who will bring — do big things like ending cancer as we know it and even curing some cancers, which we’re on our way of doing.
You’re the diplomats and global citizens making democracy work for people around the world. Lawyers defending our rights. Artists shaping our culture.
Fearless journalists. This is real, though. You’re – this is what you’re doing. Fearless journalists and intellectuals pursuing the truth and challenging convention.
You’re the leaders of tomorrow, but it’s coming on you really quickly.
Because of you, I see a future we can finally move away from the narrowed and cramped view that the promise of America is a zero-sum game: “If you succeed, I fail.” “If you get ahead, I fall behind.”
And maybe worst of all, “If I can’t hold you down, I can’t lift myself up.”
Instead of what it should be, “If you do well, we all do well.”
That’s what I see in you. That’s what I see in America. And more Americans are – a future of possibilities for all Americans.
Look, no matter – that future – what it holds, my sincere hope is that each of you find a sweet spot between happiness, success, and ambition.
That – a good life. A life of purpose.
Because here’s the thing: You don’t know where or what fate will bring you or when. You just have to keep going.
You have to just keep the faith. You have to just get up.
And you can find the balance between ambition and happiness and success – that good life of purpose, of family, and, as you know here at Howard, of excellence, leadership, and truth and service.
There is no quit in you. There is no quit in America.
So, let me close with this. In our lives and in the life of the nation, we know that fear can shadow hope. But it’s also true that hope can defeat fear.
In January of 2021, I stood at the U.S. Capitol to be inaugurated as President of the United States. Just days before, on that very spot, a violent insurrection took place.
A dagger at the throat of democracy. For the first time in our history, an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power in this country.
And they failed. Our democracy held. Again, hope prevailed.
And this time, I was standing with a Black woman about to take a two-mile procession down Pennsylvania Avenue as President and Vice President of the United States of America.
And who was marching alongside her? The Howard University Marching Band in lockstep and solidarity. You were.
I give you my word as a Biden: Class of 2023, you’re the reason I’m so optimistic about the future.
And I give you my word, I really mean it. You’re part of the most gifted, tolerant, talented, best-educated generation in American history.
That’s a fact.
And it’s your generation, more than anyone else’s, who will answer the questions for America: Who are we? What do we stand for? What do you believe? What do we believe? What do we want to be?
I’m not saying you have to share this burden all on your own.
The task at hand ahead is the work of all of us.
But what I am saying is: You represent the best of us. And that’s the God’s truth. You represent the best of us.
Your generation will not be ignored, will not be shunned, will not be silenced.
So, on the hilltop high, keep standing for truth and right, and send your rays of light.
Congratulations to you all. We need you.
God bless you. And may God protect our troops.
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WATCH LIVE! — NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Welcome to the NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception
The post WATCH LIVE! — NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

The post WATCH LIVE! — NNPA 2023 National Leadership Awards Reception first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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OP-ED: Delivering Climate Resilience Funding to Communities that Need it the Most
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Just last month, FEMA announced nearly $3 billion in climate mitigation project selections nationwide to help communities build resilience through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) national competition and Flood Mitigation Assistance program. In total, more than 50% of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities, and in particular, 70% of BRIC projects will do the same.
The post OP-ED: Delivering Climate Resilience Funding to Communities that Need it the Most first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

By Erik A. Hooks, FEMA Deputy Administrator
We know that disasters do not discriminate. Yet, recovery from the same event can be uneven from community to community, perpetuating pre-existing inequalities. Recognizing these disparities, FEMA and the entire Biden-Harris Administration have prioritized equity when it comes to accessing federal programs and resources.
The numbers tell the story.
Just last month, FEMA announced nearly $3 billion in climate mitigation project selections nationwide to help communities build resilience through its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) national competition and Flood Mitigation Assistance program. In total, more than 50% of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities, and in particular, 70% of BRIC projects will do the same.
These selections further underscore the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity and reaffirm FEMA’s mission of helping people before, during and after disasters, delivering funding to the communities that need it most.
Building on this momentum and our people-first approach, FEMA recently announced the initial designation of nearly 500 census tracts, which will be eligible for increased federal support to become more resilient to natural hazards and extreme weather worsened by the climate crisis. FEMA will use “Community Disaster Resilience Zone” designations to direct and manage financial and technical assistance for resilience projects nationwide, targeting communities most at risk due to climate change. More Community Disaster Resilience Zone designations, including tribal lands and territories, are expected to be announced in the fall of 2023.
These types of investments have, and will yield a significant return on investment for communities nationwide.
For example, in my home state of North Carolina, the historic community of Princeville, founded by freed African American slaves, uses BRIC funding to move vulnerable homes and critical utilities out of flood-prone areas.
In East Harlem, BRIC dollars will provide nature-based flood control solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme rainfall events in the Clinton low-income housing community.
While we are encouraged by these investments, we know more must be done.
Not every community has the personnel, the time or the resources to apply for these federal dollars. Fortunately, FEMA offers free, Direct Technical Assistance to help under-resourced communities navigate the grant application process and get connected with critical resources. Under the leadership of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, this assistance has been a game-changer, reducing barriers and providing even more flexible, customer-focused, tailored support to communities interested in building and sustaining successful resilience programs.
In Eastwick, Philadelphia, FEMA’s dedicated support helped the city with outreach to multiple federal agencies. Together, we built a comprehensive community-led flood mitigation strategy. When applied and implemented, this will make this community more resilient to hazards like flooding, which was negatively affecting many neighborhood blocks.
In DePue, Illinois, we worked hand-in-hand with communities to improve their ability to submit high-quality funding applications for hazard mitigation projects. We are happy to share that DePue is the first Direct Technical Assistance community to be selected in the BRIC national competition. And, we know they will not be the last. Thanks to this assistance and their ambition, DePue was awarded more than $20 million to build a new wastewater treatment plant, which will reduce flooding and raw sewage back-up into the basements of homes.
In total, our agency is working with over 70 communities, including tribal nations, to increase access to funding for mitigation projects that will make communities more livable and resilient.
With extreme weather events becoming increasingly intense and frequent due to climate change, we must keep pressing forward and continue investing in ways to better protect ourselves and our neighbors. And we are encouraged that local officials are engaging with us to learn more about the benefits of the BRIC non-financial Direct Technical Assistance initiative—just last week, we saw hundreds of participants nationwide register for a recent webinar on this important topic.
We want to see even more communities take advantage of this initiative, and, ultimately, obtain grants for innovative and forward-looking resilience projects. To that end, FEMA recently published a blog with five steps to help local communities and tribal nations learn more about the benefits of this non-financial technical assistance to access federal funding. I hope your community will take action and submit a letter of interest for this exciting opportunity and increase meaningful mitigation work throughout the country.
With the pace of disasters accelerating, communities can utilize federal resources to reduce their risk and take action to save property and lives. FEMA stands ready to be a partner and collaborator with any community that is ready to implement creative mitigation strategies and help build our nation’s resilience.
The post OP-ED: Delivering Climate Resilience Funding to Communities that Need it the Most first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Tale of Two Underground Railroad Communities
ARIZONA INFORMANT — Prior to the Civil War, many communities in the Ohio River Valley were a part of an elaborate system that provided resources and protection for enslaved persons from Southern states on their journey to freedom. Once someone crossed the Ohio River, they traveled along unknown terrain of trails to safe houses and hiding places that would become known as the Underground Railroad.
The post Tale of Two Underground Railroad Communities first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

By Christopher J. Miller, Sr. Director of Education & Community Engagement, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Christopher J. Miller
September is International Underground Railroad Month.
This proclamation began in the State of Maryland in 2019, and now more than 11 States officially celebrate one of the most significant eras in U.S. history. With the signing of Ohio HB 340 in June 2022, Ohio became the 12th state to designate September International Underground Railroad Month.
Many history enthusiasts and scholars hope the momentum of the proclamation spreads to other states so that all our forebears of freedom are remembered.
Examining this era, you find that the Ohio River Valley is instrumental in the many narratives of freedom seekers. These stories are critical to our understanding of race relations and civic responsibilities.
Before the Civil War, many communities in the Ohio River Valley were part of an elaborate system that provided resources and protection for enslaved persons from Southern states on their journey to freedom. Once someone crossed the Ohio River, they traveled along unknown terrain of trails to safe houses and hiding places that would become known as the Underground Railroad.

Gateway to Freedom sign
The Underground Railroad was comprised of courageous people who were held to a higher law that confronted the institution of slavery with acts of civil disobedience by helping freedom seekers elude enslavers and slave hunters and help them get to Canada.
Many communities were a force for freedom along the more than 900-mile stretch of the Ohio River Valley, but I would like to focus on two significant communities.
Southern Indiana was a major part of this history. It was originally believed that there were from Posey to South Bend, Corydon to Porter, and Madison to DeKalb County, with many stops in between.
In further examination, the Underground Railroad in Indiana was a web of trails through the forests, swamps, briars, and dirt roads. The city that is often overlooked in reflecting on the history of the Underground Railroad is New Albany, Indiana.
By 1850, New Albany was the largest city in Indiana, with a population of 8,632. Free Blacks accounted for 502 of that population. Across the river, Louisville was Kentucky’s largest city, with a population of 42,829. A quarter of the 6,687 Black population were free in Louisville.

Town Clock Church (aerial view)
Louisville and New Albany would grow to become a significant region for Underground Railroad activity. People like Henson McIntosh became a prominent community member and major Underground Railroad conductor. McIntosh was one of approximately ten Underground Railroad agents in New Albany who used their wealth and influence to impact the lives of freedom seekers crossing the Ohio River.
The Carnegie Center for Art & History is an outstanding resource that continues to preserve New Albany’s role during the Underground Railroad era. Approximately 104 miles east along the Ohio River is another institution that plays a critical role in elevating the profile of the Underground Railroad on a national scope.

Inside Town Clock Church New Albany Indiana safe house
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is located on the banks of the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio.
By 1850, Cincinnati would grow to be the 6th largest city in the Union, with a sizable Black population.
The Freedom Center is prominently located in the heart of a historic Black community called Little Africa. Although the community no longer exists, its legacy lives on through the Freedom Center.
As with New Albany, the community that resided along the banks of the river served an important role in the story of the Underground Railroad. Little Africa was the gateway to freedom for thousands of freedom seekers escaping slavery.
Although there were Underground Railroad networks throughout the country, Ohio had the most active network of any other state, with approximately 3,000 miles of routes used by an estimated 40,000 freedom seekers that crossed through Little Africa.
Despite the growth of enslavement leading up to the Civil War, communities such as Little Africa and New Albany reveal the realities regarding race relations and a model for the dignity of human life through their respective efforts to be kind and resilient friends for the freedom seekers.
For More Information:
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center – https://freedomcenter.org/
Cincinnati Tourism – https://www.visitcincy.com/
Carnegie Center for Art & History – https://carnegiecenter.org/
Southern Indiana Tourism – https://www.gosoin.com/
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