The importance of commencement speakers at HBCUs

Graduation season has graced us with its presence once again. Well, not me unfortunately, but graduation is definitely in the air. You can feel all of the seniors anxiously waiting and preparing to walk across the stage as they close this chapter in their life to begin a new one.
With that being said, along with graduation, commencement speakers, specifically those speaking at HBCUs are always a main topic depending how popular (or unpopular) the speaker is.
Recently, Dillard University announced musician Chance the Rapper as their commencement speaker, along with Black Panther star and Howard alum Chadwick Boseman as Howard’s speaker. As for Southern, we have Angela Rye, attorney, political analyst and commentator who recently visited Southern back in March for the second annual Empowerment Seminar as a special guest speaker.
I’m going to be honest, if you ask me who my commencement speaker was in high school and what she talked about I could not tell you simply because I did not care enough to pay attention. I honestly think that in high school, no one really pays attention to who their keynote speaker is mainly because it’s always someone from the school and they are just too ready to go. But in college it’s different, especially at HBCUs.
The point of a commencement speaker is for them to deliver that last message to undergraduate (or graduate and doctorate) students before they move into the next phase of their lives. Speeches are meant to be profound, inspirational, and moving enough to where students want to take some kind of action. But, that effect also depends on the speaker.
With speakers at HBCUs you either see really big names like Janelle Monae who spoke at Dillard last spring, or Denzel Washington, again at Dillard. (Sidebar: whatever money Dillard has I’m gonna need them to send some to SU so we can get someone popping for our graduation in 2021, okay?) I feel that it is crucial for HBCUs to have speakers that are not only relatable, but who are for sure going to leave an impact with their words by the time they are done speaking.
I also feel like that SU should also try to get better commencement speakers. Obviously for me, it’s gonna be a minute until I’m sitting the Mini Dome with my cap and gown listening to whoever the speaker is, and hopefully that person is someone that I would want to listen to. But again, I feel like we should get people who are more known. That’s not to knock any of the previous speakers, and that’s not to say that their message isn’t as meaningful. But when you’re listening to someone that’s “popular” and very relatable that appeals to our generation like Chance the Rapper and Chadwick Boseman, and even Denzel Washington, that message resonates on a different level compared to it being someone that we may not know of.
I know that there is probably a whole process that goes into choosing a speaker and of course that doesn’t lie in the hands of the students. I also feel like students should have a say in who they would like to deliver their commencement speech but that is another conversation for another opinion piece.
Overall, that is just something to think about and congratulations to all the Spring graduates of Southern University.