Speaking on the use of language she saw after the election, Gay recalled phrases such as Michelle Obama’s famous quote at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: “when they go low, we go high.” “It’s not that I believed I would have the election one way or the other, but I know that I had an opportunity to raise my voice and I had squandered it.”Īfter the election, Gay said she focused on what to do in what she calls “The Age of American Disgrace.” She read a long list of controversial acts that have been issued under the Trump Administration, such as the immigration ban, his verbal attacks on Black women and his behavior on Twitter. She spoke on how she regretted the fact that she was not more public with her support for Hillary Clinton, and detailed her fear to admit how much she supported her. She recalled how she refused to get out of bed the next morning, despite text messages she received from her mother telling her everything would be alright. Gay retold the story of how shocked she felt the day after the 2016 election. And that’s simply not how progress and change work.” “We can be on our own for the rest of the other 11 months of the year, or 30 days of the month.
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“Oftentimes we talk about it for one day or one month and we think ‘that’s enough,’” Gay said. Gay began the talk by speaking to the problems she finds when people discuss the issue of diversity. She gave a speech on the life and accomplishments of Cromwell.Īfter the speech, Traci Williams, a senior at Amherst College, performed a poetry reading of Nikky Finney’s “Maven.”Īudience members then watched the short award-winning video, “The Life and Legacy of Otelia Cromwell,” which chronicled her life and the Smith College holiday bearing her namesake. The event began with the Smith College chorus performing the late James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”įollowing the performance the Co-Chair of the Otelia Cromwell Day Planning Committee, Kim Alson, spoke. Gay is an award winning author of several works including “Bad Feminist,” “Difficult Women” and “Hunger.”Įntitled “Roxane with One N ,” Gay delivered her address in Smith College’s John M.
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It’s hard and near impossible to do it alone, and Gay really drives this home in her ending statements.New York Times contributing columnist Roxane Gay delivered a keynote address in celebration of Smith College’s Otelia Cromwell Day a holiday commemorating the achievements of Smith College’s first African American graduate. She ends her roller coaster of an essay with her opinion on how a strong woman needs a strong man to “hold her weak places and love her through the darkest of her memories, the worst of her damage.” The strength of a person cannot always be held by them solely.
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Roxane’s argument of strength in women comes full circle back to speaking of the characters in The Hunger Games. Katniss and Gay have a sort of connection in Gay’s eyes, as they both have had to endure seemingly unendurable situations, and survived. She did not speak up about what had actually happened because she wasn’t that kind of person, nor would anyone believe her. Having to deal with lies and rumors about what had actually happened to her drove her into a corner in her life, with no one to talk to. Her relationship with him led to her rape (which is not explicitly said, but strongly implied), and the coming days after this terrible incident is when she truly realized what strength is. To her surprise, this boy she thought she loved was not the person she dreamed of. Gay begins to account her own personal story of when she was in school, and the ‘boyfriend’ that she thought she had. Katniss’s strength in the books is portrayed well, but the things that she had to sacrifice for that strength seem to be unimportant to the story, which is very unrealistic when you look at the big picture of life in the real world. She begins with explaining her relationship with the novels and movies of The Hunger Games. Her sheer obsession with the works shows through her descriptions of the story and characters, but there is also an underlying connection between the main character, Katniss, and herself, which she later elaborates on. Her ideas and own personal experiences with having strength and the sacrifices one must make to have that kind of strength are comical at first and then heart-wrenching towards the end of her essay. “All too often, representations of a woman’s strength overlook that cost.” Gay’s opening statement makes a path for the rest of her essay to follow.