Use your education at UWI to change the fortunes in the region
“As you enter into this great institution of learning and become a member of the UWI family, I urge you to thrive in the West Indian-ness of this institution. The great benefit of UWI is it’s regional scope, or certainly the ideal of the University of the West Indies is that ‘Caribbean-ness’.”
This was the word coming from Rashad Brathwaite, Graduate of UWI & Guest Speaker at The University of The West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Matriculation Ceremony 2017 recently in the Roy Marshall Teaching Complex at the UWI.
He told the audience of new students, “Dare to think of the Caribbean, with all its imperfections as yours, radically yours to make whole and yours to make a future that you and our descendants can be proud to live in. One that our ancestors may equally be proud of; fight in their name – the great work of history is to uncover its very present presence.
“The trauma of a region such as ours requires us to work sometimes three times as hard to achieve one third of the glory; but we must. The work of making whole, must involve the staking of our claims to reparations and equally the pride to work for our collective development whole-heartedly in the national and regional interest…Dare to think of yourself as a global citizen.”
He continued, “Be concerned about global wars, about the real dangers global actions – the undermining of PEPFAR will have on HIV Programming in the region, the impact of climate change, international financial regulations and the uneven geographies which often influence the structuring of the world we engage. We need people strategically placed throughout institutions of power globally, working for and on behalf of the Caribbean. I say this to say think of your story within the narrative of the Caribbean – Does your life trajectory benefit your home?”
“But do not be so cosmopolitan that you remain in the global clouds and do not land. Shout Black Lives Matter in reference to Ferguson but equally question the suspicious deaths of usually poor and classed bodies in suspicious circumstances in the region ...”
He stressed, “The work of gender inequality requires men – the primary beneficiaries to work against it – not because you have a sister, or a mother – but because you are human and equally recognize humanity of women. I have no recollections in my 8 years of experience with UWI Cave Hill of a female Cave Hill Guild President in that period – I want to see one. I want there to be so many stories of women in politics; that women are allowed the possibilities of doing exceedingly well or horribly – based on their individual stories and for it to mean nothing more than she was a great leader; or she was horrible – Not women, but she, an individual….”
Brathwaite stated, “Be as, or more concerned about white collar corruption, and the violence unleashed at the hands of wealthy and classed power as you are about violence in urban corridors or inner-cities. Be more concerned still about the failures- political and otherwise – whether our education systems, weakened safety nets, structural conditions made possible through violent neglect which enable these types of violence. Be concerned about perverse things and address them...”
Brathwaite advised, “Refuse to be less than excellent. Refuse to live in a space of mediocrity. Refuse to ask yourself what is the minimum I can do to get out of university? What’s the minimum I can do to pass this course? Dare to live in the audacity of bodacious goals; to dream of things you are afraid to realise…”
He believes that individuals can do a range of things, and stated, “You do not have to be one thing. You do not have to be a doctor, full stop; or a psychologist, full stop. Be fluent in many things. Write about Rihanna and Reparations. Be academic and politician. Be a dancer, and a singer and a prolific academic as was Rex Nettleford. You do not have to do things as has been done traditionally. Define success on your own terms and live by those terms…” (NB)