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Commencement Speaker Focuses on Community
Ann Marie Garran, longtime adjunct associate professor
in the School for Social Work, addressed 106 graduate students during the school’s
88th ceremony Friday, Aug. 15, before receiving her doctoral degree. The following
is an excerpt of her speech to the Class of 2008:
When...you received your letter of acceptance from Smith,
you accepted membership into the many facets of this community, a community of learning
and caring, of friendship and of conflict, of crying and kvetching, and a community
with a pretty good softball team from what I hear. And as you have come to learn,
as members of this culturally responsive, anti-racism-missioned, psychodynamically-oriented,
relationally-based, post-modern community, we now embody the important connecting,
scholarship and activism that vitalize clinical social work to serve a wide range
of clients who are struggling with injuries to their mental health...
As you leave Smith, I urge you to think about which
parts of this community were important to you. Which aspects will you take with you? How
will you share what you have gained in this community with the rest of your world?
What kind of community do you want to see, for both you and your clients? How
can you make a difference in facilitating change and growth with our clients who
are deeply affected by their mental health vulnerabilities while also affirming their
resilience? I implore you to think about the answers now – before another 9/11
strikes, before our lack of organized and reasoned responses to the next Hurricane
Katrina allows more communities to be annihilated, before we stand by passively and
observe how individuals inflict bigoted and racist assaults on others based on differences
in race, socioeconomic status, sexual identity and disability – the very people
we are called to help.
Ask yourselves: What do people need to do to create
cohesive, responsible, inclusive communities? How do we create respect for
one another? How do we translate this knowledge into a larger context, once we leave
the Grecourt Gates? I leave you with these five points – things I have thought
about that perhaps can launch you toward building a solid community as you leave
here:
- Continue to find ways to create and support
spaces that affirm and allow for a complexity of individuals. Just think – we
have become a country that appreciates complex identity enough for someone of
both Kenyan and Irish descent to run for President. The ability to accept identity
complexity is something that our country has historically struggled with. But
it is also a shift that represents a strength of this country – and a worthy
ongoing challenge.
- Use your passion as a social justice advocate
to be active in your community. The best example I can think of currently
is this – VOTE! Encourage people to vote, and support efforts to make sure
that the Voting Rights Act is upheld and enforced. Think about what is at stake
with elections at every level. Which candidates stand for what we believe as
social workers, affirming our positions on race, gender, sexual orientation,
religious persecution and disability awareness? There are thousands of social
workers in the United States alone. Can you imagine the force we would represent
if we were all politically active?
- Find ways to express yourself that contribute
to the public discourse. Write letters. Organize peaceful rallies. Present
at conferences. Engage in more training and consultation to strengthen your clinical
skills to address mental health issues. Express your personal and professional
opinions, so that you are making a contribution to social work through social
justice advocacy and through culturally responsive clinical practice. Empower
other people to become activists. Help to render the invisible visible. Expand
people’s knowledge of community and of the privileges and responsibilities
that come with being a part of one.
- Use the excellent skills and education you
have gained here at Smith to continue to find ways to forge strong, empathic,
caring relationships. I urge you to seek relationships with people who
will take you out of your comfort zone. These relationships can be very rewarding
and can lead to a more nuanced community.
- Find ways to nurture and feed one another
in your professional and personal lives. Find your niche. And then use
your strong clinical skills to help others to find theirs.
With the doctoral degree that I am receiving, I become
the second doctor in a very large extended family of passionate, loving, complex,
and gifted people. While the diploma I will soon receive bears my name and is something
that I will hold dear for the rest of my life, it is not solely mine. This doctorate
comes with the knowledge that many, many people in my family have withstood and survived
the viciousness of racial discrimination and the humiliating, dehumanizing effects
of poverty in hopes that their children and grandchildren, my generation, would not
have to endure these hideous cruelties. All of these fine, hard working, loving people
always encouraged me to read more, study harder, and pursue higher education - a
privilege that was out of reach and beyond the realm of possibility for most of them.
One percent of the United States population has received
a doctorate. Only 6/100ths of 1 percent of the United States population are African
Americans who hold a doctoral degree. Four hundredths of one percent of the United
States population are Latinos or Latinas who have earned a doctorate. I stand here
today as a proud black and Puerto Rican woman who today has earned membership to
that group. This accomplishment has become a tremendous part of my legacy. I carry
the responsibility of this legacy with pride. Today you who graduate are joining
a long line of social and mental health reformers and you also now represent a strong
tradition of Smith alums. The need for our services is enormous. The education you
carry with you today is well suited to meet those varied needs. I invite each of
you to discover your legacy, to embrace it, and share it with your community.
Thank you.
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