Transcript of Nikki Giovanni's speech at VA Tech Memorial

I heard this on video, and was very moved by all of it, so am putting the full text up here.  If you can still find the full video link (not the condensed and cut version) on CNN.com, go watch it!

There's also a link to her convocation speech at the Cincinnati Enquirer link below.

Link: The Cincinnati Enquirer - Giovanni taught killer.

Nikki Giovanni's convocation poem

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while.  We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devestated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant 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 and reaches out 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 we are and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

 

Comments

[Howard Robbins]

Thank You thank you thank you i wish i could tell you how much your words helped me as well as you spoke to me but i do not have it in me right now so i will just say thank you ......from my Hokie family to your Hokie family peace.

[Steve McIntyre]

Here's another inpirational poem by Nikki Giovanni for your consideration. I wonder if Cho had ever read it?

The True Import of Present Dialog, Black vs. Negro, by Nikki Giovanni

Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you kill
Can a ni**er kill
Can a ni**er kill a honkie
Can a ni**er kill the Man
Can you kill ni**er
Huh? Ni**er can you kill
Do you know how to draw blood
Can you poison
Can you stab-a-Jew
Can you kill huh? Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you run a protestant down with your
’68 El Dorado
(that’s all they’re good for anyway)
Can you kill
Can you piss on a blond head
Can you cut it off
Can you kill
A ni**er can die
We ain’t got to prove we can die
We got to prove we can kill