Danny Glover challenges seniors at Convocation to be 'global citizens'

By Franklin Crawford

As an international film star, Danny Glover is best known for his role as Roger Murtagh in the Lethal Weapon action-movie series. Off-screen, Glover is renowned as a dedicated human rights advocate, a man of action whose political activities range from opposing the death penalty, to raising awareness about the AIDS crisis in Africa, to literacy and the well-being of African Americans and impoverished communities in the United States. In his role as guest speaker at Cornell Convocation May 25 in Barton Hall, it was Glover the global citizen who took center stage addressing the record crowd on a theme of citizenship and responsibility.

Danny Glover greets audience members after giving the Convocation address in Barton Hall, May 25. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

Glover described himself to an audience of graduating seniors, their families and friends as a child of the civil rights movement and urged the graduates to dare to act on their beliefs, regardless of the political climate. His rhetorical tone throughout was inspirational and reflective.

"It is only your vision, your voice, your clarity that can make the world -- your community -- a better place," Glover said. "You've spent a number of years learning the theory and now many of you will have the opportunity to go out and practice, become even more actively involved in creating the kind of world that you want to see. Make no mistake about it: Your voice is important, your vision is important, what you think really does matter."

Glover added that "the level of commitment and personal responsibility" required to effect positive changes "are very much a part of the Cornell tradition, a tradition of intellectual rigor and community service."

With one exception during his talk -- a reference to a Fox Family Channel series he produced and hosted, called "Courage" -- Glover made no mention of his career in film and theater. In fact, he told the audience, it was television that spurred him to become an activist, not an actor.

"I know it's hard to believe some times, especially for those of us who spend too much time being numbed and pacified in front of a television," he said, "but the television, in its infancy, brought to our [the '60s generation's] attention the shocking horror of institutionalized segregation and racism and the brutal state of terror that existed for African Americans who lived in the South. What we saw on that screen made us become agents of change; a call to action for millions of us and commitment to that action."

Glover used comparative statistics on national consumption versus population to encourage graduates to think about activism as a matter of changing personal habits.

"Perhaps the question is whether or not we are willing to tolerate living in a world designed to meet the exaggerated consumptive needs of a few people at the expense of not only the planet but of a majority of the world's population. And also whether we are prepared to build more schools for our children, or more prisons."

He also referenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s use of the Rip Van Winkle story as a cautionary tale. "The most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle was not that he slept for 20 years," said Glover. While Van Winkle slumbered, the American Revolution rocked the world, King had pointed out.

"There are great dialogues taking place within the culture, within the country, within the world, dialogues and decisions that are changing the face of the future for all time," Glover said. "King reminds us that not being part of the dialogue is simply not an option. ... All too often, too many people find themselves sleeping through the great periods of social change. [King] reminds us how important it is to be awake, to be conscious, to be involved, to have an opinion and to have the courage to act on it."

To emphasize his point, Glover held aloft the summer 1999 issue of Native Americas, published by the Akwe:gon Press, part of the American Indian Program at Cornell. He commended the journal and spoke about the somber subject of that particular issue.

"I was really happy to see here you have a whole issue dedicated to Ingrid Washinawatok, a really wonderful Native American woman who was killed along with two other people while on a humanitarian trip to Colombia," said Glover, who knew Washinawatok. "Ingrid was awake until the end." He then acknowledged Washinawatok's husband, Ali El-Issa, and son, Maekiew, who were both in the audience on a visit to Cornell, hosted by José Barreiro, editor of Native Americas.

Glover closed his call for graduates to act on their beliefs with a quote from poet and writer Audre Lorde:

"When I dare to use my strength in the service of my vision, it matters less and less whether I am afraid."