In a heartfelt speech delivered to the graduating class of her former high school, the 38-year-old reflected on her own experience as a woman of colour and called on students to stand in solidarity.
"I wasn't sure what I could say to you," she began the video. "I wanted to say the right thing. And I was really nervous that I wouldn’t, or that it would get picked apart, and I realised - the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing. Because George Floyd's life mattered, and Breonna Taylor's life mattered, and Philando Castile's life mattered, and Tamir Rice's life mattered, and so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we don't know. Stephon Clark. His life mattered."
Meghan went on to express her disappointment that discrimination, racism and violence are still so prevalent in 2020. “I’m so sorry you have to grow up in a world where this is still present,” she said, reflecting on her memories of the Los Angeles riots back in 1992.
“I am sorry in a way that we have not gotten the world to the place that you deserve it to be.”
“I know that this is not the graduation that you envisioned,” she continued. “And this is not the celebration that you imagined. But I also know that there’s a way to reframe this for you and not see this as the end of something but instead to see this as the beginning of you harnessing all of the work, all of the values, all of the skills you have embodied over the last four years and now you channel that. Now all of that work gets activated. Now you get to be part of rebuilding.”
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“We are going to rebuild and rebuild and rebuild until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken, so are we.”
She called on the students to “lead with love” and “compassion” as they venture into life after school.
“You are going to use your voice. You are going to use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to,” she said. “Because most of you are 18 or you’re going to turn 18, you are going to vote. You are going to have empathy for those who don’t see the world through the same lens that you do.”
“Because with as diverse and vibrant and open-minded as I know the teachings in Immaculate Heart are, I know you know that Black lives matter,” she added. “So I am already excited for what you are going to do in the world, you are equipped, you are ready, we need you and you are prepared.”
Watch her speech in full here.
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