Hi everyone.
My name's Tiarra Fisher and I'm representing
the Anthropology Department.
This may not be the graduation, or state of
affairs, we could've ever anticipated.
It feels like forever but it was only a short
time ago that we were more innocently planning
our futures, and on the brink to reaping the
rewards for years of hard work to attaining
a bachelor's degree.
And while the world in some ways feels like
it is ending, my words to you is this:
this is not the end.
This is merely a transition.
In anthropology we study the stories of humans,
past, present, and the future.
These stories tell us that we are resilient
and together, capable of anything.
I found an interest in anthropology after
a few Google searches my senior year in high school.
Little did I know that what I found was so
much more than a major.
Anthropology's a lens through which we can
view the beauty and diversity of people, places,
and culture while unapologetically calling
attention towards oppressive systems and how
to dismantle them.
I have learned how to go beyond a cynical
critique and to search for, enact, and be
the change I want to see.
Though this semester was cut short, anthropology
has prepared me to face what is to come.
I found community in the most unexpected of
places, and treasured the values and lessons
I have learned over the years.
I would like to thank the professors, graduate
students, and peers in the department who
have taught me along the way.
Arundhati Roy recently wrote that this crisis
is really a portal, a gateway between one
world to the next.
As we leave UMass to seek our livelihoods,
which are in home to family and friends, or
build new communities, we can take what we
have learned here at UMass and fight for the
future that we all want to see.
Congratulations to the Class of 2020.
And remember, this is not the end.
