Climate change, trans rights, dismantling White supremacy: Leading leftists deliver graduation speeches
Vice President Harris' woke jokes fell flat at the United States Naval Academy ceremony.
Among other topics, speakers such Ayanna Pressley, and John Legend spoke about climate change, racial equity, and LGBTQ rights.
Left-leaning public figures delivered keynote graduation speeches to members of the class of 2021 at America’s top universities.
As Campus Reform reported in May, liberals drastically outnumbered conservatives in the opportunity to deliver graduation speeches. Of the 69 commencement events that Campus Reform evaluated, 48 were centered upon left-leaning speakers.
Vice President Kamala Harris, for instance, delivered the commencement speech for the United States Naval Academy. Beyond other topics, she mentioned global warming as a key challenge for the military to tackle.
🚨 CRINGE ALERT 🚨
Kamala Harris tells woke joke about a female Marine
at the Navy Academy - IT BOMBS.
Cadets groan as Kamala cackles awkwardly alone onstage.
Kamala also told the cadets to use “wind energy” for “combat power.”
The Biden humiliation of our Military continues. pic.twitter.com/rQghgIA6rM— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 28, 2021
“And then of course there is climate change, which is a very real threat to our national security,” said Harris. “And I look at you and I know you are among the experts who will navigate and mitigate this threat. You are ocean engineers who will help navigate ships through thinning ice. You are mechanical engineers who will help reinforce sinking bases. You are electrical engineers who will soon help convert solar and wind energy into power, convert solar and wind energy into combat power.”
At least one of the Vice President’s jokes — presumably meant to make a point about gender equality in the military — appeared to fall flat: “And just ask any Marine today, would she rather carry 20 pounds of batteries or a rolled up solar panel? And I am positive she will tell you a solar panel. And so would he.”
[RELATED: Bill Maher criticizes campus liberals, American university system in scathing monologue]
At another ceremony, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) emphasized racial equity in her address to Boston University graduates.
Rep. Pressley explained that from the day of her birth, her mother “wanted her baby girl to know that she was being born into a struggle.” She learned to fight for “justice” and “collective liberation” from a young age.
Later in her speech, Rep. Pressley declared that “over the past year, in addition to the trauma caused by the pandemic, our country has been rocked by… gut-wrenching moments that have shown the depth of racism, white supremacy, and profound injustices in our communities.”
“But racial, social, and economic injustice are not present only in momentary spasms of violence and hatred,” continued the legislator. “They are codified, they are systemic. And dismantling those systems — building a more just and equitable world — requires collective determination, collective action.”
Pressley exhorted graduates to follow in the footsteps of Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi in their commitments to be “anti-racist.”
Singer John Legend — who spoke at Duke University’s commencement — also discussed social justice.
“America’s story has always been marred by efforts to exclude, to dominate, to subjugate… to keep certain groups of people with no voice, no power, and no opportunity,” he told students. “Workers. Women. Indigenous people. Black people. Immigrants. The LGBTQ community… All because of a fear that if those people did better, people at the top would lose out.”
Citing “efforts to deny people their right to vote” and “the shameful attacks on trans rights,” Legend explained that the United States is “ still fighting against the old zero-sum thinking that’s been holding us back since the beginning.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
