Journalist Advises University of Richmond Graduates That Being True to Self Trumps Race, Indecision
May 10, 2004
Joseph P. Williams, assistant managing editor for local news at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, told new University of Richmond graduates today to stay true to their interests and principles if they hope to find happiness in their lives and careers.
Himself a Richmond alumnus, Williams said being an African American at a mostly white college and a varsity football player left him wondering at times, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" He said it took him two decades to come up with a definitive answer.
"Stay true to yourself, and hold fast to your ideals," Williams advised. "Use all the powers that you have honed during your time here. Read, analyze, ask questions, think for yourselves, stay curious. Don't be afraid to stand in the minority, even if it means challenging your friends, your family and your own expectations. Those who truly love you won't abandon you or let you fail."
Williams learned to find his own way and find himself when he wasn't alone--"although sometimes it seemed like it"--as a black college student.
"Going to Richmond as an African American student reminds me of an analogy a friend...uses to describe subtle pain. It's like being in bright shoes that are a size too small," he said.
"Many of us felt like outsiders at one of the most formative times of our lives. We weren't harassed or taunted, and I don't remember any overt acts against me. But there were subtle things--slights both real and imagined that made it hard to pretend that our race didn't matter," he said.
"In four years on campus, I never got a single African American professor for a class. I double-majored in English and journalism, but I can't think of anyone assigning a text written by a scholar or thinker of color. And, I don't remember a time when I wasn't the only black kid in class. In four years, I never went to any of the campus formals, and Friday and Saturday nights--the heart of on-campus social life--were either awkward or lonely, particularly if you couldn't skip campus."
As a result, Williams said that when he graduated, he was "pretty ambivalent about my UR experience. I really wanted to embrace my alma mater, but I kept thinking about those tight shoes I had to wear. For years in fact, it was easy to think only about what the university hadn't given me."
"But slowly, as two decades passed, wisdom took over. I began to realize in fact what university in fact had given me--what I had taken from it, and what I had to give in return," he said.
Williams recognized football had given him discipline, work ethic and experiences and people to be remembered for the rest of his life. He recalled a journalism professor "who pushed me to excel despite myself." And he remembered leading a student protest that brought about the creation of Richmond's CIGNA full scholarships for black students. Going to school at Richmond hadn't been "such an awful thing."
"It gave me the tools to gain wisdom and experience, along with my education. It taught me perseverance, discipline, the ability to move between two worlds and, last but not least, the strength to be an individual-the strength to be different," Williams said.
And he noted significant changes to the campus and the world that occurred in the two decades since his college graduation. The percent of minority students attending Richmond has reached a historic high, the university employs a director of multicultural affairs, diversity is high on the leadership's agenda, and there are even two black sororities on campus.
The challenges individuals face in life can be managed by being true to self, Williams said.
"Most of all, remember to follow your heart, particularly if it leads you to unexpected places. Mine led me back to this place on this day," Williams said.