National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice

Commencement Address at Florida International University

Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Good morning, FIU!  Thank you, President Rosenberg.  And, thanks Dean Stack and Provost Furton for letting me share this special day with you.  Marcia, congratulations on your honorary degree.

I believe that a good commencement speech should be like a good commencement speaker—short.  So, if I go on too long, Breezeway cookies for everyone on me.  Deal?

First things first.  To the SIPA Class of 2016—congratulations! Felicidades.  You did it.  You survived hurricanes and Professor Gil’s math assignments.  You juggled schoolwork and jobs.  Somehow, against all odds, you even managed to find parking on campus.  And, you did it all with hard work, grit, and more than a few cafecitos from Bustelo.  I see some of you could use one right now.

Of course, it wasn’t just caffeine that got you here.  As a mom who’s about to send her son off to college, I’ve got to give a lot of love to your incredible parents and families.  They believed in you, sacrificed for you, and maybe even gave you a nalgada or two when it was necessary.  So, let’s hear it for your families!

I want you to revel in this special moment.  Today is your graduation.  But, it is also a reaffirmation of the American Dream—the embodiment of our founding ideals.  In a world where great gaps persist between those with power and privilege and those without, education is still the great equalizer.  No matter where you come from, no matter what language you grew up speaking, this diploma is your passport to a future of possibility.

I’ve seen this in my own family.  My mother’s parents emigrated from Jamaica to Portland, Maine, in 1912.  My grandfather was a janitor; my grandmother worked as a maid and a seamstress.  Neither had much formal education, but they scrapped and saved and sent all five of their kids to college.  My wonderful mom has devoted her career to expanding higher education opportunities for all.  My beloved late father was born in segregated South Carolina.  He was a Tuskegee Airman and, through sheer talent and willpower, rose to become an accomplished economist and a governor of the Federal Reserve.  Because my parents refused to accept the limits society imposed — and because my grandfather bent over a broom — I stand here as the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States.

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