As graduation season draws to a close and recent graduates begin to pursue their dreams, we wanted to share some words of wisdom from one recent commencement address.
"People think, love your enemies? That’s for saints—not for the hard-edge reality I live in. But nothing about love your enemies says you shouldn't fight for justice, you shouldn't fight for equity, and you shouldn't work for peace. It does say you will not get there with hatred and contempt. You will not win the battles which this generation must win for our country with hatred and contempt for your fellow countrymen and women. Love your enemies is no longer the strategy for saints: it is the new requirement for citizenship."
Those words of advice are from UNITE co-founder Dr. Timothy Shriver as he delivered the commencement address to Georgetown University's College of Arts and Sciences on May 21, 2022. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, recognizing his leadership of the Special Olympics organization, his pioneering work in the field of social and emotional learning, and his most recent launch of UNITE - a movement to promote national unity and solidarity across differences.
When the United States was founded nearly three centuries later, the Founders carried this worldview with them. In the Constitution, they enshrined compromises that upheld racial hierarchy:
Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT-01)Credit: CMF
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA)Credit: CMF
Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK-05)Credit: CMF