John —

I had the honor of delivering the commencement address yesterday at Paul Quinn College — it’s the oldest HBCU in Texas.

As a former teacher, graduation days are always special to me. The world these young people are graduating into is not easy.

I called my speech “Unshakeable Things: Gen Z and the New Great Awakening” because, as I told the graduates, I believe we are on the verge of a New Great Awakening. This generation — with disillusionment as their superpower — will lead us.

I want to share an excerpt of what I said below. If you’d like to see the full address or send it to a young graduate you know, you can watch it here.

Paul Quinn College was not built by politicians. It was built by Black preachers holding classes in church basements and living rooms just seven years after emancipation came to Texas.

For 154 years, Quinnites have been guided by a deep moral commitment to all of God’s children — regardless of their skin color or their zip code.

This place has spiritual roots. This place is rooted in faith, in service, and in love. Today, I want to call you to live out of those roots.

When this school fell on hard times, God sent a teacher, a leader, a visionary — Dr. Michael Sorrell — to pick up the pieces.

Dr. Sorrell returned this school to its roots. He doubled down on serving the poor and the marginalized. He transformed this college into one of the best HBCUs in the country and sparked a revolution in the process.

I’m reminded of the words of scripture: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” In this new world Dr. Sorrell is building, all who have been counted out, who have been left behind, who have been forgotten — the stones the builders rejected — will be the cornerstone. A revolution from below.

Because in the words of Dr. Sorrell himself, “in the history of mankind, how many revolutions have started from above?"

You may not believe that a world rooted in faith, service, and love is possible.

In your short lives, you’ve seen a pandemic and an insurrection, natural disasters and artificial intelligence, mass shootings and mass deportations. All piped through your screen into your soul. You have scrolled through more suffering, more division, more chaos than any generation in human history.

You’ve grown up in an economy that isn’t built for you. The American Dream is on life support. 90% of Baby Boomers went on to earn more money than their parents. For Millennials, it’s 50%. For Gen Z, it’s even lower.

And we know that Black Texans have 10 times less wealth and are half as likely to own a home.

This current cost of living crisis is the culmination of 50 years of trickle down economics. 50 years of the top 1% rigging this economic system and this political system for their own benefit — at our expense.

Young people can’t buy a home, but Jeff Bezos has 12. Young people can’t afford to fill up their gas tank, but Mark Zuckerberg is launching helicopters from his mega-yacht. Young people pay more than their fair share of income taxes, but Elon Musk can get away with not paying a penny.

All this has left your generation disillusioned.

Disillusionment has a bad reputation. But being disillusioned means being freed from illusions — to see reality. To know the truth. As painful as it may be, your disillusionment is a superpower. You can see the world as it is and dream of the way it ought to be.

…

Scripture tells us, “All of creation will be shaken, so that only unshakable things will remain.

The world as we know it is shaking — the old certainties, the old institutions, the old corruption. The old world is dying — and a new one is struggling to be born.

In the rubble of this shaken world, you’ll find the stones the builders rejected. The people who have been told they’re too poor, too different, too young to matter. You will be the cornerstone of a new world built on unshakable things: faith, service, and love.”

James Talarico

Our movement is part of this fight to shake the world and the corrupt institutions that protect a broken status quo. It will require a multi-generational effort. Each of us has a role to play to build the future we want.

If you are tired of the corruption in Washington, please consider making a contribution today to our people-powered movment. Every dollar will help us usher in a new era of our democracy and economy that puts working people first.

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