Cory Booker’s Stanford Commencement Address

Cory Booker spoke to Stanford University’s Class of 2012, sending them off into the “real world” on Sunday with an optimistic, yet somewhat fearful speech.

Booker urged the new graduates to, “take the more difficult road” in life, according to Mercury News. Speaking to the crowd, which included quarterback Andrew Luck, the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, and pro golfer Michelle Wie, Booker stated, according to Baristanet, that:

“You are the physical manifestation of a conspiracy of love. The people whose names you don’t even know, who struggled for you, fought for you, sweat for you, volunteered for you — you are here because of them. Do not forget that.”

Oliver Luck, a former NFL quarter back, whose son Andrew was drafted with the Indianapolis Colts, stated:

“Our feelings are probably the same as most parents watching their sons and daughters walking across that stage. We are very proud of him. He has worked hard academically.”

The Newark, New Jersey Mayor spoke to the students about his time as a political activist on the streets of Newark, including a moment that he says broke his spirit. Cory Booker stated that in 2004 in a housing project, he held a young boy in his arms, while the boy died of a gunshot wound. Palo Alto Online reports that he stated:

“I was broken. I was done. I went back to my apartment and tried to scrub the blood of this boy … and felt my heart fill up with anger and darkness. What kind of world do we live in where everyone knows the name of JonBenet Ramsey and Natalee Holloway but they cannot name one black child killed in my city?”

Booker also bemoaned the state of American politics by saying, according to Mercury News, that:

“We are a nation that has become so polarized, where people will say, I am a Democrat or a Republican before they say I am an American. How can we come so far as a nation where the word ‘compromise’ is a curse? I’ve come to learn in life to embrace discomfort. I’ve come to learn to embrace fear. I’ve learned in life to embrace frustration.”

Cory Booker urged the students to think about these experiences, and to “take the difficult road.”

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