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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Darren Walker Speaks at University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Darren Walker Speaks at University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AwpfWrUD.m3u8) (17:30)  _Published 2015-05-26. Darren Walker Speaks at University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2015_ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:19 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Sheryl Sandberg Speaks at Tsinghua University Commencement 2015](/video/g9R7RCzS/) ### Sheryl Sandberg Speaks at Tsinghua University Commencement 2015 [Alan Alda Speaks at Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2015](/video/upaDkEqX/) ### Alan Alda Speaks at Carnegie Mellon University Commencement 2015 [Salman Rushdie Speaks at Emory University Commencement 2015](/video/eM70A958/) ### Salman Rushdie Speaks at Emory University Commencement 2015 --- ## 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. Thank you. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Darren Walker Speaks at University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2015","description":"Darren Walker Speaks at University of Texas at Austin Commencement 2015","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/AwpfWrUD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-26T21:04:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AwpfWrUD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/AwpfWrUD/","duration":"PT17M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/AwpfWrUD/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```