Alicia Keys Delivers Speech To YouTube’s ‘Dear Class Of 2020’

Alicia Keys delivered an optimistic speech to students everywhere.

“Dear Class of 2020, congratulations! You’ve accomplished something remarkable,” Keys began. “But let’s be honest, it’s been a hard week, and a hard month and a hard year. Right now, it may not feel like there’s much to celebrate, and that’s okay. It’s okay to not be okay right now.”

She continued, addressing the state of civil unrest in America and the protests against racial injustice worldwide.

“I know so many of you are not thinking about your time at school, you’re thinking about what’s happening right now in the present,” she said. “You’re thinking about marching and protesting and making sure your voices are heard in a time where we cannot be silent. And I feel you, so much. The world feels broken right now. It is broken right now in so many ways, but you’re taking your heartbreak and your outrage and you’re putting it into action and you are showing that your generation is the one that’s gonna heal this. And I promise to always be by your side no matter where the fight for justice takes us next.”

 

Keys continued, encouraging students to use their education and perspective to make the world a better place.

“The pain we’re experiencing now, it’s not new, but it feels different this time, right?” she asked. “I think for the first time, all of us, no matter what we look like or where we’re from, we can see so clearly what injustice looks like. Now, we all can choose how to respond. The change only happens if all of us educate ourselves, if we hold each other accountable when we register to vote and make sure our voices are heard in November.”

The singer encouraged for young people to approach their lives through empathy.

“When all of us recognize our biases and find ways to empathize with people that look different than us or seem different than us on the surface, that’s the key right there,” Keys explained. “Empathize with those that seem different on the surface. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the inspiration, for inspiring the world to see our collective humanity. But right now, at this moment, I hope that you can laugh, smile, allow yourself the time to reflect on all your accomplishments and all that’s coming.”

Keys then encouraged graduates to throw their cap—or whatever hat they had—into the air in celebration.

“You my friends, you are graduates in the most powerful time to be coming of age,” she said. “And there’s nothing and no one that can stop you from changing the world. I see you. You’re unstoppable. We honor you and celebrate you.”

BLOG NEWS

Harry Belafonte, Civil Rights Icon, Dies At 96

Tweet Pint it Share American actor and singer Harry Belafonte on a beach, circa 1957. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty GETTY IMAGES Harry Belafonte (born  March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor and activist, who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s. Veteran actor and singer Harry Belafonte’ dies on […]

Read More
BLOG HIPHOP

Migos Rapper Takeoff , 28, Shared A Final Picture To His Instagram Account

Tweet Pint it Share   The Migos star, 28, shared a final picture to his Instagram account on Tuesday evening with the lyrics to the song Stop Breathing. Shortly after, he was gunned down at a bowling alley in Houston.   Born Kirshnik Khari Ball on June 18, 1994, in Georgia, Takeoff was an American rapper. He was best known […]

Read More
BLOG NEWS

Migos rapper Takeoff shot dead at 28 in Houston, Texas

Tweet Pint it Share . Migos rapper Takeoff – real name: Kirshnik Khari Ball – has died at the age of 28 following a shooting at a bowling alley in Houston, Texas. He formed one-third of the popular rap group, Migos, alongside Quavo and Cardi B’s husband, Offset. According to TMZ, police were called to the bowling alley […]

Read More