--- title: University of Texas at Austin: Darren Walker Graduation Speech 2015 description: Darren Walker gave this commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin canonical: https://time.com/3897166/darren-walker-graduation-speech-ut-austin/ author: Darren Walker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-26T21:21:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:18.746Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Darren Walker to Grads: Build a Bridge to a Better World og:description: Darren Walker gave this commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin og:url: https://time.com/3897166/darren-walker-graduation-speech-ut-austin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae28d9798bf1d16a/698851b9e53aba2d504dde10/471008118-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=395&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 395 og:image:height: 222 og:image:alt: Women In The World Summit Held In New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Darren Walker to Grads: Build a Bridge to a Better World twitter:description: Darren Walker gave this commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae28d9798bf1d16a/698851b9e53aba2d504dde10/471008118-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=395&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Darren Walker to Grads: Build a Bridge to a Better World > Sponsored content. 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Andrew Toth—Getty Images by [Darren Walker](https://time.com/author/darren-walker/) ## Darren Walker May 26, 2015 9:21 PM UTC Thank you, President Powers, for your generous words, for so warmly welcoming me back to the 40 acres, and—much more importantly—for your almost 40 years of service to the University of Texas. Through decades of progress, and a few moments of adversity, your unwavering courage has set a powerful example for generations—and your boundless love for this institution has remained a stalwart inspiration to me, and to alumni around the world. Bill: You are the embodiment of Texas Fight. University of Texas community: Please join me in recognizing the 28th President of the University of Texas at Austin, William Powers, Jr. To you, President Powers; to our distinguished regents; to President-Elect Fenves; esteemed deans; members of the faculty and staff; honored guests; family and friends of the graduates; and, most importantly to the class of 2015: Congratulations! This is a momentous evening—a monumental rite of passage—one of those special, fleeting moments that will radiate in your memories for the rest of your lives. Take it from me. I can vividly recall almost everything about my commencement day. The pride. The joy. The uncertainty. The relief. I also remember when I first set foot on this campus in 1978, I was a clueless, naïve, skinny version of myself. There I was, walking past new kinds of people (I had never seen hippies before); walking on the drag and into this weird, funky, hole-in-the-wall grocery store (a place called “Whole Foods”). I always knew I wanted to be a part of the UT community—and, though I’ve traveled far and wide, I’ve never been apart from it. My first semester here, I believe I responded to every sign-up sheet I saw on the West Mall. During my time on this magical campus, I drank UT life from a firehose. Every drop. In many ways, it was only when I arrived here that my life finally started. Now, to understand what I mean, you have to understand where I was coming from. I was born to a single mother in a charity hospital, and we lived in a small, segregated Louisiana town. But my mother realized that this community was not a place of opportunity for my sister and me, and so we moved to Texas, where we had family—specifically to a town called Ames, population 1,400, in Liberty County. My mom studied to become a nurse’s assistant, a job she worked—with pride and dignity—for decades. I attended public schools. We didn’t have a lot. But we had enough. And these were my beginnings. Class of 2015: I tell you all this for two reasons. First, your name is on the degree, but it doesn’t belong only to you. The second reason I tell you this story is because my story is your story. The story of a boy, who started life in a little shotgun house in Ames, Texas; the story of a young man who made his way up the ladder in a new city, who has the great privilege of leading an institution committed to ending poverty and injustice in the world—this is a Texas story. This is an American story. It’s a story about transcending and overcoming; about the pathway out and the roadway forward. In short, it’s a story about bridges. About crossing them. Building them. Being them. You see, my mother crossed a bridge to take my sister and me into Texas. I’ll never forget crossing the Colorado River Bridge on my first visit to Austin. I crossed a bridge into New York, when I took my University of Texas education out into the world. In fact, every major turning point in my life—every figurative bridge—has been accompanied by a literal one. Yet, the most important crossings in our lives are not always made of cables, and concrete, and steel. The bridges in our lives take many forms. On my journey, there was my mother—a bridge from poverty into possibility. But there also were public policies that reflected the generosity of America, the country we love—the only country in the world where my story could even be possible. A program called Head Start was my bridge between being unready for life and prepared for school. Private scholarships from Texas philanthropists and Pell grants were my bridge between lower expectations and higher education. And during my formative years, I always knew—with every fiber of my being—that Texas had my back; that Texas was cheering me on. In Austin, I had mentors like my English Professor, John Trimble, who told me that, “you don’t come to college to get a job. You come to college to get an education.” I had champions—women and men who, through their kindness, offered me a bridge to a world I could not have imagined on my own. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. Period. Graduates: Just like me, you’re the product of a community that has prepared you to prosper and to thrive. In New York, I inhabit a world of prep school grads and Ivy League alums. The tiny island of Manhattan is densely packed with some of the most talented, ambitious people on the planet. But my UT education—my _public school_ education—prepared me to compete, to succeed, and, ultimately, to lead. And it has prepared you, too. This is the privilege of Texas bigheartedness—the promise of Texas bridges. My bridges were black, white, gay, straight, rich, poor, and everything in between. And like all bridges, they don’t discriminate. They join people and places of all creeds and colors, of all communities and categories. They take us on a journey, together—hopefully, somewhere better. And this is something of which I was reminded only a few months ago, on a very special bridge in Selma, Alabama. As many of you know, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s Bloody Sunday, a defining moment in American history. I was honored to attend the celebration back in March. It was incredibly, profoundly moving. I traveled to Selma with one of my personal heroes, Congressman John Lewis, who marched on the Edmund Pettis Bridge, a half century ago. When John boldly led the group of marchers forward in 1965, he was a twenty-five year old kid, more or less, your age. He not only yearned for a better world; he was willing to give everything for it. Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, I was just five years old, and I had no idea what John Lewis was doing for me. He and the others on the bridge marched into men on horses with clubs—straight into a swift and certain beating—so that I wouldn’t have to. Indeed, I am here today because John Lewis, and countless others, put their lives on the line, and made sacrifices for what they believed in. And yet, there is more that we must do together. We must continue to bridge gaps of inequality—in our culture, in our economy, in our discourse, and in our politics. Because the truth is, we see inequality virtually everywhere—in studies and statistics; in schoolhouses, and courthouses, and jailhouses; and, yes, on the streets of Baltimore and Ferguson and elsewhere. To me, the challenges of our system are intensely personal. My childhood friends were cousins—boys with talents, and passions, and potential no different from my own. As I mentioned, my mother moved my sister and me from Louisiana to Texas. But what happened to my cousins who stayed behind? They found themselves in the same cycle of despair that has caught too many young black men. By my count, five of them have spent significant time in prison. It’s hard to know why, for some of us, life unfolds in one way—and, for others, completely differently. But, in my case, I think bridges made the difference. People had my back, and institutions kept me moving forward. I had bridges built in Texas, and beyond. I had bridges to hope. And so, I _choose_ to be hopeful—_radically hopeful_—because there is hope in the progress we have seen, which affirms that more progress is possible. My story is all the evidence you need: A black kid from a working-class, rural Texas town, now president of one of our nation’s flagship institutions. I am proof of what happens when people set aside differences, and build bridges instead. And I’ve made my life’s story into my life’s passion—and my life’s passion into my life’s project: Ensuring that every boy and girl in this country and around the world can cross the same bridges that I did. This is not a new aspiration. These are not new ideas. America always has been about people choosing to bind themselves together. _Actively_ choosing. We are “We, the people.” We are _e pluribus unum_—out of many, one. We are the hope of mothers and fathers of every origin crossing an ocean—or a river. We are the transcontinental railroad, and transatlantic flights, and the interstate highway system, and the Internet. We are Ellis Island, and the Edmund Pettis Bridge. I know each of you has your own bridges to build, and to traverse. The bridge between graduation and getting a job. The bridge between an environment in peril and ecosystems back in balance. The bridge between communities desperate with need and those rich in abundance. And so, tonight, as you cross the figurative bridge that is your commencement day—as you cross that bridge over the Colorado River and leave the 40 Acres behind; as your journey unfolds before your very eyes—think about how you can build a bridge to a better world. You know, my office at the Ford Foundation is overflowing with mementos and memories from my unlikely journey—artifacts from global megacities and rural villages alike. I traveled more than 100,000 miles last year—from boardrooms to battered slums; from Detroit to Delhi; from the United Nations to the most impoverished of countries. Everywhere I visit, I try to bring something back, even if it’s just an idea. Among the many important things I keep are two sticky notes, affixed to my computer monitor. On them are written a pair of personal mottos. One says “pressure is a privilege.” The other, “you rest, you rust.” No doubt, bridges endure a lot of pressure. Bridges corrode, and crumble. They rust. Being a bridge is the work of a lifetime. But you’re prepared. Privileged, but poised to change the world. Yes, a banker can be a bridge. A teacher can be a bridge. A social worker or a scientist, a doctor or diplomat, a police officer or a computer programmer can be a bridge. And for you law-school grads and hopefuls out there: Even a lawyer can be a bridge. So, every time you feel pressure, embrace the privilege. Every time you feel tempted to rest on your laurels, make that day matter. Because, yes, “what starts here changes the world,” but in order to change the world, what starts here cannot stop here. As I’ve travelled the globe, I’ve seen how Texas has prepared me for every challenge, to cross every bridge, to build bridges where they didn’t yet exist. And everywhere I go, I know that the world needs a little more of that Texas spirit. Class of 2015: Your future is here. I cannot wait to see what bridges you cross, what bridges you build, and who you bring together on your journey. Oh, and one last thing, Hook ‘em horns! Thank you. Congratulations. _Read more 2015 commencement speeches:_ [_Alan Alda to Grads: Everything in Life Takes Time_](http://time.com/3889343/alan-alda-graduation-speech-cmu) [_Bernard Harris to Grads: You Are an Infinite Being With Infinite Possibilities_](http://time.com/3892197/bernard-harris-graduation-speech-wpi/) [_Bill Nye to Grads: Change the World_](http://time.com/3882613/bill-nye-graduation-speech-rutgers-university/) [_Chris Matthews to Grads: ‘Make Them Say No. Never Say No to Yourself’_](http://time.com/3895685/chris-matthews-commencement-address/) [_Colin Powell to Grads: Learn to Lead_](http://time.com/3889524/colin-powell-graduation-speech-2015/) [_Ed Helms to Grads: Define Yourselves_](http://time.com/3891310/ed-helms-graduation-speech-2015/) [_Eric Schmidt to Grads: You Can Write the Code for All of Us_](http://time.com/3889977/eric-schmidt-graduation-speech-vt) [_Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel to Grads: ‘This Is the World We Were Born Into, and We Are Responsible for It’_](http://time.com/3881609/snapchat-evan-spiegel-graduation-speech/) [_Gwen Ifill to Grads: If You See Something, Do Something_](http://time.com/3891033/gwen-ifill-graduation-speech-utica/) [_GE CEO Jeff Immelt to Grads: Become a Force for Change_](http://time.com/3888086/jeff-immelt-graduation-speech-siena/) [_Ian McEwan to Grads: Defend Free Speech_](http://time.com/3883212/ian-mcewan-graduation-speech-dickinson/) [_Joe Plumeri to Grads: Go Out and Play in Traffic_](http://time.com/3896557/joe-plumeri-graduation-speech-nyls/) [_Jon Bon Jovi to Grads: Lead By Example_](http://time.com/3892791/bon-jovi-graduation-speech-rutgers-camden/) [_Jorge Ramos’ Message for Journalists: Take a Stand_](http://time.com/3881590/jorge-ramos-usc-commencement/) [_Joyce Carol Oates to Grads: Be Stubborn and Optimistic_](http://time.com/3893106/joyce-carol-oates-to-grads-be-stubborn-and-optimistic/) [_Katie Couric to Grads: Get Yourself Noticed_](http://time.com/3882654/katie-couric-graduation-speech-2015/) [_Ken Burns to Grads: Set Things Right Again_](http://time.com/3890954/ken-burns-graduation-speech-wustl/) [_Kenneth Cole to Grads: Find Your Voice_](http://time.com/3889495/kenneth-cole-class-speech-emory) [_Madeleine Albright to Grads: The World Needs You_](http://time.com/3882439/madeleine-albright-tufts-graduation-speech/) [_Mark Ruffalo to Grads: Buck the System_](http://time.com/3883345/mark-ruffalo-award-speech-dickinson/) [_Matthew McConaughey to Grads: Always Play Like an Underdog_](http://time.com/3881954/matthew-mcconaughey-graduation-speech-university-of-houston/) [_Maya Rudolph to Grads: Create Your Own Destiny_](http://time.com/3883091/maya-rudolph-tulane-university-graduation-speech/) [_Mellody Hobson to Grads: Set Your Sights High_](http://time.com/3889937/mellody-hobson-graduation-speech-usc/) [_Meredith Vieira to Grads: Be the Left Shark_](http://time.com/3882465/meredith-vieira-graduation-speech-boston-university/?iid=time%5Fspeed) [_Michelle Obama to Grads: Shape the Revolution_](http://time.com/3895761/michelle-obama-to-grads-shape-the-revolution/) [_Mitt Romney to Grads: America Needs You to Serve_](http://time.com/3882769/mitt-romney-graduation-speech-saint-anselm-college/) [Natalie Portman to Grads: Carve Your Own Path](http://time.com/3899747/natalie-portman-to-grads-carve-your-own-path/) [_President Obama to Grads: We Should Invest in People Like You_](http://time.com/3889866/barack-obama-graduation-speech-lati/) [_President Obama to Cadets: Lead the Way on Fighting Climate Change_](http://time.com/3891078/barack-obama-graduation-speech-uscga/) [_Salman Rushdie to Grads: Try to Be Larger Than Life_](http://time.com/3889267/salman-rushdie-graduation-speech-emory/) [_Samantha Power to Grads: Start Changing the World By ‘Acting As If’_](http://time.com/3883303/samantha-power-graduation-speech-upenn/) [_Stephen Colbert to Grads: You Are Your Own Professor Now_](http://time.com/3883513/stephen-colbert-graduation-speech-wfu/) [_Tim Cook to Grads: Tune Out the Cynics_](http://time.com/3882479/tim-cook-graduation-speech-gwu/) ## Transcript So to President Powers to our Chancellor McGraven to the former chancellors, our esteemed faculty and staff, guests, and of course, most importantly, the class of 2015. Congratulations. [ APPLAUSE ] So this is a momentous evening. A monumental right of passage. One of the special fleeting moments that will radiate in your memories For years. And take it from me, I can vividly recall my commencement day. The pride, the joy, the uncertainty, and finally, the relief. [ LAUGH ] And I can also remember what it was like to first set foot On this magical campus. I was a clueless, skinny version of myself [ LAUGH ] from a small town in Texas. And here I was, walking on the drag. Walking past all kinds of people I'd never seen before. I saw hippies. We didn't have hippies in my hometown. There was this weird, funky hole- in- the- wall grocery store called Whole Foods. [ LAUGH ] And I remember walking in and thinking to myself, this place will never catch on. [ LAUGH ] But I always knew that I wanted to be a part of the UT community. And though I have travelled far and wide, I've never been apart from it. During my time on this magical campus, I drank up UT life from a fire hose. I drank every drop of it. And in many ways, when I arrived on this campus, my life really started. Now to understand what I mean I think it's important to understand where I was coming from. As President Powers said, I was born in a Charity Hospital to a single mother, and lived in a little segregated town In Louisiana. But my mother realized that this community was not a community of opportunity for me and my sister until she moved us to a place in Texas where we had family. A little town called [ UNKNOWN ] Texas, population 1, 400. In Liberty County, not far from Beaumont, my mom studied to become a nurses assistant, a job she worked with decades of dignity and pride. I attended public schools. We didn't have a lot, but we had enough. And these were my beginnings, and I tell you this, graduates, for two reasons. The first is that while your name may be on the degree, the degree does not belong to you alone. And the second reason I tell you is because. Your story is my story. The story of a boy who started life in a little shotgun house in Ames, Texas. The story of a young man who made his way up the latter in a new city and who today has the great privilege Of leading an institution committed to ending poverty and injustice in the world. This is a Texas story. Indeed this is an American story. It's a story about transcending and overcoming. about the pathway out and the roadway forward. In short, it is a story about bridges, about crossing them, building them, and being them. You see, I crossed a bridge. To come to Texas from Louisiana. I'll never forget crossing the Colorado River Bridge on my first visit to Austin. I cross the bridge into New York when I took my University of Texas education out into the world. In fact, every major turning point in my life Every figurative bridge has been accompanied by a literal one, and yet the most important crossings in our lives are not always made of cables and concrete and steel. The bridges in our lives take many forms. On my journey, my mother and my community was a bridge from poverty to possibility. But there were also public policies that reflected the generosity of America, the country we love. Indeed the only country in the world. Or my story could even be realized. I was in the inaugural class of a program called headstart in 1965. That program was my bridge between being un- ready for life and prepared for school. Private scholarships from Texas philanthropists and Pell grants were my bridge between lower expectations and higher education. And during my formative years, I always knew that Texas was cheering me on. With every fibre in my body, I felt that. And often, I had mentors like my professor John Trimble, who told me, Darren you don't come to college to get a job, you come to college to get an education. I had champions. Women and men who through their kindness offered me a bridge to a world I could never have imagined on my own. Without them I would not be here today. So graduates, just like me, You're the product of a community that has prepared you to prosper and thrive. In New York I inhabit a world of prep school grads and Ivy League alums. The tiny island of Manhattan where I lived is densely packed, with some of the most talented, competitive, ambitious people on this planet. But my UT education, yes my public. Education has prepared me. It prepared me to go to that little tiny island and compete, and succeed, and ultimately to lead. And it has prepared you too. This is the privilege of Texas' big heartedness. The promise of Texas bridges. My bridges were white, black, brown, gay, straight, rich, poor, and everything in between. You see that's the thing about bridges. They don't discriminate. They join people and places of all creeds, and colors. And all categories and communities. They take us on a journey. A journey together, and hopefully to a better place. And this is something I Was reminded of, only a few months ago. On a very special bridge, in a place called Selma, Alabama. As many of you know, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Right's movement's bloody Sunday. A defining moment in American history. I was honored to be invited to attend the ceremonies back in March. It was a profoundly moving experience for me because I got to travel to Selma with one of my personal heroes. congressman John Lewis who marched on the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago. When John boldly led a group of marchers in 1965, he was 25 year old kid, almost your age. He not only yearned for a better world, he was willing to give everything for it. Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, I was just five years old and I had no idea of what John Lewis was doing for me. He and others on that bridge marched into men. On horses with clubs. Straight into a swift and certain beating so that I wouldn't have to. So I am here today because people like John Lewis and countless others put their lives on the line, and made sacrifices that they believed in. And yet there is so much more we need to do together. We must continue to bridge the gaps of inequality in our culture, in our economy, and our discourse and in our politics. Because the truth is we see inequality everywhere in our society today. In studies and statistics. In school houses, and court houses, and jail houses. And on the streets of places like Baltimore and Ferguson. And to me, the challenges of our system are deeply personal. My childhood friends were my cousins, boys with talents and passions and potential no different from my own. But, as I said, my mother moved us from that little community to Texas what happened to those boys I left behind? They found themselves trapped in the same cycle of despair that has caught far too many african american men in our society. And by my count, five of them have served time in prison. It is hard to know why for some of us life unfolds in one way, and for others in a completely different way. But in my case, I know what the difference was. I had bridges that made the difference. I had people who had my back. A community and institutions that kept me moving forward. I had bridges built in Texas. I had bridges to hope. And so I choose Tonight, to be radically hopeful because there is so much hope in the progress as a society we have seen, which affirms that more progress, indeed, is still possible. And my story is all the evidence you need. A kid like me from a rural working class town like Aims, Texas, now president of one of our nations flag ship philanthrophies. So I am proof od what happens when people put aside their differences and build bridges. And I've made my life's story into my life's passion, and my life's passion into my life's project. Insuring that every boy and girl in this country, and around the world can do what I did, to dream. And to have bridges built that they can cross and to have those dreams realized. But this is not a new aspiration. This is not a new idea. America has always been about people choosing to bind themselves together. Actively choosing. We are We The People. We are E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one. We are the hopes and dreams of mothers and fathers of every origin, crossing an ocean or crossing a river. We are the transcontinental railroad, and transatlantic flights, and the interstate highway system, and the Internet. We are Ellis Island, and we are the Edmond Pettus Bridge. I know each of you have your own bridge to build and to traverse. The bridge between graduation and getting a job. The bridge between an environment in [ UNKNOWN ] and ecosystems in balance. The bridge between communities desperate in need and communities rich in abundance. And so tonight, as you cross the figurative bridge that is your commencement day. As you cross over the Colorado river and leave the 40 acres behind. As your journey unfolds before your very eyes. Think about how you can build a bridge to a better world. You know, in my office at the Ford Foundation I have many mementos from my unlikely journey. I traveled over a 100, 000 miles last year. From board rooms to battered slums, from Detroit to Delhi, from the United Nations to the most impoverished of nations. But everywhere I visit, I like to bring something back, even if it's just an idea. And among the many important things I have in my office are two sticky notes that I keep affixed to my computer monitor. And on them are written a pair of my personal mottos. One says pressure is a privilege. And the second says you rest, you rust. So no doubt bridges endure a lot of pressure. Bridges corrode, then crumble, indeed they rust. And being a bridge is the work of a lifetime. But you are now the holder of a University of Texas degree. You have been prepared, privileged and poised to change the world. Yes, a banker can be a bridge, a teacher can be a bridge, a social worker or scientist, a doctor or a diplomat A police officer or a computer program, they can all be bridges. And for you law school graduates, even a lawyer can be a bridge. So every time you feel pressure, embrace the privilege. Every time you feel tempted to rest on your laurels, make that day matter, because it is true that what starts here changes the world. But, in order to change the world, what starts here cannot stop here. As I've travelled the globe, I have seen how Texas has prepared me for everything challenge, to cross every bridge and to build bridges where there weren't any. And everywhere I go, I know the world needs. Just a little more of that Texas spirit. Class of 2015 your future is here. Your future is now. I cannot wait to see the bridges that you cross. The bridges that you build, and who you will take on the journey along with you. Congratulations class of 2015. Hook 'em horns. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you. 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