I'm Shola Lynch. We have to ask
ourselves what kind of society do we
want?
I tell the stories that I want to see.
And they involve people who look like me,
and who are like me. I am not the candidate of
the women's movement of this country.
Although I am a woman and I'm equally
proud of that. I am the candidate of the
people of America. I grew up in New York
City
My dad was a professor, my mom was a
nurse and then a homemaker. My grand plan
was to travel the world.
My father didn't think that was such a
good plan, so he started sending me
applications. And there was this brochure
from the University of California,
Riverside, for a Public History Resource
Management Masters including American
History. And this light bulb went off in
my head. To bring history alive through
the artifacts of history.
I packed up all my stuff in my VW bug
and drove to California. What I loved
about UCR, the campus was really
comfortable. The history department was
really good, so it's really the people. My
UCR experience would be really
different if I hadn't met Laura Lopez, who
was another student, who was actually
working at the California Museum of
Photography and she brought me over
there and showed me the stereograph
collection and I just was blown away by
that. It ended up being my thesis and I
did an exhibition there and that
completely took me into the work that I
do today. I'm a documentary filmmaker.
History is very important to me so the
stories that I tell are primarily
historical. Shola is smart, very smart.
But beyond that, she was very very
imaginative. One of the most imaginative
graduate students we've ever had. And also,
fiercely determined.
What does it mean to be a criminal in this society?
She has been such a lone wolf that she's
decided to take on topics that I think
others would have shied away from. Your
ability to find some deep and emotional
meaning in the things she's working on,
it is really tremendous. I stand before
you today as a candidate for the
Democratic nomination for the presidency
of the United States of America. The
point of my work is to tell those
stories so that we reclaim that and
acknowledge the diversity that's part of
this great country. I wasn't surprised
when she went on to have this really
marvelous career that she's had. She's
lived up to what I believe she could do,
and she's going to do great things in
the future. I think the important thing
with whatever you do with your life is
that you do it to the best of your
ability. Like Angela Davis said, " It's the
way you live your life". You're just
working hard at what you hopefully love
to do. The rest follows.
