Celebrities and activists united on Tuesday to celebrate the year of 2020 the class of graduation of Indigenous students. The ceremony included inspiring speeches and performances from such luminaries as the Navajo Nation, President Jonathan Nez and recording artist Talibah Begay, as well as powerful calls-to-action of the stars, including Tessa Thompson, Ava DuVernay, and Mark Ruffalo.
“You are the future, and that gives me great hope.”
Tessa cheered on the graduates, sharing their enthusiasm for their intended achievements. “I want to tell you, you are the future, and that gives me great hope. I continue to learn much from your generation about how to be better, about how to think better about how to see better, about how to look better on this Earth,” he said. “So you really, really feel inspired to know that our future is in their hands. And I know, yes, that feels scary, but I think that you should feel comforted by the fact that he was able to, during these really uncertain times, to graduate and begin the rest of your adult life. It is very exciting. I know that could not have been easy, but he did, and that should be an indication that you can do anything.”
Ava encouraged the students to cultivate a positive change through creativity and action of the government. “I want to invite you to stay connected with their peers and their community, even as you embark on this new era in his life,” she said. “I want to invite you to participate in the census. I want to urge you to protect your right to vote, and I want to know that you know that there is beauty in its specificity. What is the voice? What do you mean? What you want to be? What you want to do? Now, more than ever, this is the time to do your best to step over the rubble of what has been destroyed and to walk in life with which you can create. I am cheering you on, and I’m sending you love.”
Mark also stressed the importance of voting and of filling out the census. “It is time for you to take your place in this country where you have always belonged and to speak their voice and feel their power, and the way to do this is to fill out the census of the people,” he said. “We have to fill out the census so that you are counted, so that the money comes to you, and so that the representation comes from its community. It is so important. That will lay the groundwork for the next decade. Will dictate which is the one that takes us and how much money is given from the federal government and the amount of energy and say you have in the way the country is run and how our leadership is in the way.” He ended up in a higher note, adding, “as to protect the sacred, now it is important to project the sacred.”
During the event, there were also occurrences of Zahn McClarnon, Paul Rudd, Tatanka Means, Chris Evans, and Taika Waititi — who, in February, became the the first person of Indigenous descent Maori to win an Academy Award with his 2019 movie, Jojo Rabbit. Follow the ceremony from above!
