Transcriber: Maia Cotelo Reviewer: Ariana Bleau Lugo
Originally from Brooklyn, New York,
my family moved here to Cleveland, Ohio.
We lived not too far away, at a place called the Salvation Army.
It's a shelter for women and children.
And while we lived at the shelter,
my mother, she would take us to go feed other homeless people.
At a very young age, my mother was teaching us a very valuable lesson
that no matter how bad you think you have it,
somebody has it worse than you.
No matter your situation, no matter your struggle,
the medicine for our anger is gratefulness.
Even today while you and I sit here,
there are people who are on life support at Cleveland Clinic.
While we sit here, you must be thankful and grateful.
But I was angry coming from where I came from.
I had a lot of anger. Very upset.
And what we must do when we look at our young people,
we must look at the "why" and not the "what".
I want to take four "E"s to explain why our young people are so upset.
The first "E" is environment.
So let's do this,
I'm going to take a dog that comes from where I come from on St. Claire
and then we'll take another dog from Solon, where some of you live.
Now, that dog in Solon is about this big,
his name is Smoochie.
(Laughter)
He has the new shoes and new sweaters
and if he goes missing there's a billboard:
"Twenty-thousand dollar reward if you find Smoochie"
He plays nicely with the other dogs at the doggy park.
But this dog that comes from where I come from
is a pitbull, a Rottweiler, his name is Killer, Butch or Optimus Prime
We feed them hot sauce. We feed them hot Cheetos.
You could be walking on the other side of the street.
You're posing no threat to the property that Killer is protecting,
but, yet and still, Killer wants to jump over the fence to get you.
Now look at the impact of the environment on animals.
Now imagine the impact of the environment on people.
Our young people live in a box.
And we wonder why they can't think outside of it.
The next "E" is exposure.
You ever walked into somebody's house and it smelled really bad?
Hopefully, I'm not talking about your house right now.
But as soon as you walk into the house, you walk in, it smells to you,
but everyone in the home is playing around and walking and they can't even smell it.
Why is that?
Because they're used to it.
They're used to the smell.
Many people are used to what's going on in their communities,
where they don't see any problem with it.
The next "E" is education.
I had the opportunity to travel to Morehouse College
and graduate with honors from Morehouse College and it changed my life.
And the last "E" is our experiences.
With all of that, there was a man who came and picked me up.
He became a father for me.
His name is Mr. Timothy Roberts.
He came all the way to my community.
I didn't grow up with a father.
But he became my father.
And he exposed me to a world that I didn't even know existed.
Like Cleveland State.
Though I live a couple of miles away, I never had the opportunity to travel here.
But he came and he gave me the love that I desired.
And because of that, today, as a graduate of Morehouse College,
but also I'm an educator.
I have a "Be the Change" leadership series that I teach in my school,
called, I CAN SCHOOLS.
At this school, there's a great story that I share with my students called Lion King.
Anybody ever saw Lion King before?
You love Lion King? That's good.
That helps me out right now.
So, Simba is next in line to be king.
I can't wait to be king, he says.
But there was an individual that hated Simba more than anyone else.
That was Scar. I heard somebody. That's Scar, you're right.
So, as I talk to my young people, I let them know that
some of your greatest opposition will come from your own families.
Some of your greatest opposition will come from people who should love you,
but, yet and still, they pose the greatest threat to you.
And as you know the story,
Simba gets kicked out of Pride Rock and he meets Timon and Pumbaa.
You love Timon and Pumbaa, don't you?
But Timon and Pumbaa, you may think they were his friends,
I would say Timon and Pumbaa were not Simba's friends.
Because -- don't get mad at me--
The reason being is that they understood the law of the survival of the fittest.
They're like, listen, we're the only meat around here.
If we don't trick this lion to believe he's something that he's not,
then we are dead meat. What lion do you know
swaying from vines, eating bugs, talking about Hakuna Matata.
This doesn't happen.
So Timon and Pumbaa, they understood his potential before him.
Many people look at our young people
and we see that jails are in better shape than schools.
We see that casinos are in better shape than schools.
So, what are we preparing our young people for?
Are we preparing them to become scholars?
Or are we preparing them to become criminals?
And as the story goes, he meets Rafiki.
And Rafiki, he says, "I know your father".
He said, "you mean, you knew my father". He said, "no, I know your father."
"Follow me."
As he follows him, he says, "Look there".
And Simba looks into the water and he sees his own reflection
he says "that's not my father. That's me".
Rafiki says, "Look closer".
And Mufasa appears and Mufasa says, "Simba you have forgotten me."
Simba says, "How can I forget you? You're my father."
Mufasa says, "You have forgotten yourself, therefore, you have forgotten me."
You know, I talked to you earlier about this woman that I loved so dearly,
my bestest friend in the world, my mother.
Today, I stand before you, with this beautiful pink tie,
in honor of her, because she passed away from breast cancer five years ago.
I wear this tie in honor of her, in honor of every woman and every man
that is suffering from cancer, who have survived the brutal attack of cancer,
who have transitioned.
It was because of these two individuals in my life, Mr. Timothy Roberts
and my beloved mother.
It was them who exposed me, who took me out of the environment that I knew,
who educated me, and gave me new experiences.
So I say to every last one of you.
I say, do not be afraid of those young people.
Because they have pants that are falling off their waists.
Maybe he doesn't have a belt.
(Laughter)
But if you do not speak and reach out to that young person because of that
you miss out on a greater opportunity than they do.
I urge you to expose our young people.
I urge you not to be afraid of them.
Because maybe, you will miss out on the opportunity
to inspire a young person like me.
So, I pray and I ask that you go and you inspire and you motivate everyone
despite what they look like, despite their religion,
despite where they come from.
Because if you do that, you will change the world
one young person at a time.
Thank you so much.
(Applause)