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Delivered at the convocation ceremony on Tuesday April 17th, 2007:
We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. "
We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. "
Poet Nikki Giovanni Draws a Crowd
Knoxville native Nikki Giovanni was the featured speaker at the Dogwood Arts Festival downtown Saturday afternoon. She packed Union Avenue Books twice and drew a large crowd on Market Square, as kids were making sidewalk-chalk masterpieces and ...
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Overview
Nikki Giovanni is a poet and teacher at Virginia Tech. She delivered an inspiring speech at the end of the Virginia Tech convocation ceremony in memorial of the Virginia Tech shootings. Her speech was titled "We are Virginia Tech". She encouraged the Virginia Tech community to overcome tragedy and united, saying "We are Virginia Tech, We are the...more
Nikki Giovanni is a poet and teacher at Virginia Tech. She delivered an inspiring speech at the end of the Virginia Tech convocation ceremony in memorial of the Virginia Tech shootings. Her speech was titled "We are Virginia Tech". She encouraged the Virginia Tech community to overcome tragedy and united, saying "We are Virginia Tech, We are the Hokies". The gathered community applauded her speech and began a chant after she ended.
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