ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — With graduation ceremonies all across the U.S. canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, graduates are understandably feeling a bit glum.
So on Friday, Oprah Winfrey and other stars including Simone Biles, Carbi B, Selena Gomez, Kristen Bell and Awkwafina took part in Facebook’s #Graduation2020: Celebrate the Class of 2020 ceremony. Oprah imparted her wisdom to the graduates with an uplifting and inspirational commencement speech.
While she acknowledged this may not be the graduation ceremony they envisioned, she told them, “never has a graduating class been called to step into the future with more purpose and vision, passion and energy and hope.”
Oprah told the graduates that in this time of uncertainty, it’s OK not to have all the answers. But she called them to action to create a better world for the marginalized people of society.
“We need you to do this, because the pandemic has illuminated the vast systemic inequities that have defined life for too many for too long,” she said.
Oprah added, “You have the power to stand for, to fight for and vote for healthier conditions that will create a healthier society. This moment is your invitation to use your education to begin to heal our afflictions by applying the best of what you’ve learned in your head and felt in your heart.”
She concluded by saying it is her hope that the class of 2020 “will harness your education, your creativity, and your valor, your voice, your vote, reflecting on all that you’ve witnessed and hungered for, all that you know to be true and use it to create more equity, more justice and more joy in the world.”
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