Release No. 0259.00

by

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
Southern University Summer Commencement
July 28, 2000 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

       "The first thing I want to do is correct a mistake made by my boss, the President of the United States. When he spoke at Grambling's commencement last year, he said he thought they had - and I quote - "the best band in the land." With all due respect, Mr. President, clearly you've never been to Southern University to hear the Human Jukebox.

       "Chancellor Jackson, thank you very much. Thanks to the entire university community for this honorary degree, which now officially makes me a Southern University Jaguar.

       "Before I address the graduates, I want to acknowledge a group of people without whose hard work and commitment there would be no graduates. I'm talking about the parents and relatives that are here today. Congratulations to you as well. As the father of two adult children, I know how proud you are...and, believe me, I know full well the sacrifices you've made. This is your day too.

        "To today's graduates, let me tell you what you probably already know: that all of you are lucky to have spent these years here. Aside from the quality classroom education you've received, you will benefit throughout your lives from the values that Southern represents. When Martin Luther King said: "Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education," he couldn't have found a better example than Southern University.

       "For me, this isn't just any commencement speaking engagement. Because as you know, there is a unique relationship between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Southern University that is more than a century old. Over the years, Southern has made an enormous contribution to American agriculture, helping make it an economic engine for the nation and an indelible part of American life. In keeping with the land-grant tradition, Southern has made service and extension key elements of its curriculum. The idea is that knowledge, research and expertise should not be hoarded inside the ivory tower...but transferred to the community at-large and applied to address the needs of the society.

       "Today, with agriculture facing enormous challenges, we need the resources of Southern University more than ever. As agriculture becomes more knowledge-based, more specialized, more technologically sophisticated, agricultural education will become that much more important.

       "And when I talk about agriculture and agricultural education, I'm using the broadest definition possible. At USDA, our mandate includes everything from international trade to food safety to child nutrition to soil conservation to urban forestry. And I'm pleased that Southern's College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences takes a similarly broad view.

       "Let me add also that agriculture can benefit from the skills of those of you in other disciplines as well. Agriculture needs biologists to conduct the genetic research that will give us the disease- and pest-resistant crops of the future. Agriculture needs engineers to help come up with, for example, modern irrigation techniques. Agriculture needs computer scientists to help bring the benefits of information technology to the countryside. Urban planners who can help control sprawl and development would be doing wonderful things for agriculture. And we certainly need public policy specialists who can help us craft the agricultural policy of the 21^st century.

       "I truly believe that agriculture is one of the most important human endeavors there is. It's not like any other good or service produced in our society. Food is the fundamental building block of life. The fact that we have the safest, most affordable, most abundant food supply in the world is a critical element of our national security. Shortage of food has been the source of some of the bloodiest conflict in human history, and the United States is one of the few nations in the world lucky enough never to go to war for that reason.

        "Tomorrow afternoon, I'm leaving for a nine-day visit to Africa, where drought and famine, of course, have led to so much instability and unrest. Among other things, I'll be visiting the largest refugee camp in Kenya, and a clinic in South Africa that treats more AIDS patients than any hospital in the world. The goal of my trip is to help build up African agriculture, to help African nations become more self-reliant, to provide further partnership and support as Africa works toward peace, democracy and stability in the coming years.

        "Graduation is a time for reflection...a time to ponder the deep, probing issues of the day...to wrestle with and contemplate the truly important questions about the human condition, like: "What in the world am I going to do with my life now?"

        "Well, I have no doubt that, if you haven't answered that question already, you will. It's actually kind of a trick question. Because there is no one answer. Your professional lives will not be traveled in a straight line with clear visibility all the way. It will be full of curves, detours, blind spots, maybe even a few speed traps. You will end up doing a lot of things in your life, some of which you never even planned on.

       "That was true of me. If someone had told me, when I graduated from college, that I would eventually become United States Secretary of Agriculture...I would've laughed out loud. The only background I had in food and agriculture came from having a mother who was always telling me to "Eat!" "Eat!"

       "It wasn't until I ran for Congress that I realized I had to learn something about farming. So I gathered a group of farmers together and very humbly explained that I wanted to learn more about their business, because it was so important to our local economy in Kansas. I was very honest with them; I told them I was a novice, that I had never even pushed a tractor in my life. So one of the farmers spoke up and said: "Well, young man, the first thing you need to understand is this: you don't push a tractor, you ride one."

       "You never know where you're going to end up, what field you'll find yourself in. Frankly, I thought I was going to stay in Congress until I was ready to retire. But the people in my district had a different idea, and they voted me out in 1994. But that's what democracy is about: the people's word stands. That wasn't much comfort to me, though. I kept thinking about something another former Congressman once said: "The public has spoken...the bastards."

       "My point is: be flexible and adaptable. You never know where life is going to take you. And please, enjoy the ride. You know, you hear a lot of people say college is the best four years of your life. I say that's ridiculous. If that were the case, this ceremony would be a time of fear and anxiety, instead of hope and celebration. Can you imagine how depressing life would be if it didn't get any better than it was in your 20s? Why would you bother with the rest of the journey? I'm 55 years old, and if you ask me about the best four years of my life, I'm likely to tell you that I look forward to them a great deal.

       "My other pearl of wisdom for you is this: have a sense of humor. My mother helped teach me that. I remember taking her to the Oval Office to meet President Bush. And everybody was being very polite and respectful because, whether you agree with him or not, he is the President. So the President shakes my mother's hand and tells her that he likes me and wishes that I would convert - meaning from the Democratic to the Republican party. And my mother, without missing a beat, says: "Oh no, we're very happy being Jewish."

       "Now, you don't have to be a quick wit or a joke-teller to have a sense of humor. You just have to be able to appreciate the absurdity in the quirks of daily life. Believe it or not, that kind of sense of humor is in pretty short supply out there in the real world.

       "I've had many encounters in the last few years that were a little unnerving at the time, but which, looking back are just plain funny.

       "You see, people seem to have this urge to throw things at me. A few years ago, when I was in Rome for the United Nations World Food Summit, I was greeted by anti-biotechnology protesters, all of them completely naked, who threw genetically modified soybeans at me. A few months later, in Montana, someone pelted me with rotting bison guts. And then this spring, just when I thought I no longer had a bullseye on my back, I was speaking before a large crowd at a nutrition summit when a animal rights protester charged the stage, threw a tofu cream pie at me, and shouted that I was a "meathead" for promoting meat.

       "So where does this sense of humor get you? Well, first of all, it will help keep your blood pressure down. I've seen too many people burn out from their own self-importance. Second of all, a sense of humor makes you approachable and accessible in a professional environment. It sends a message that you're an easy person to work with. I can't tell you how important that is in politics, and I think it's important no matter what line of work you're in.

       "It's okay, of course, to be serious too. And I want to do that for just a minute. One hundred and thirty-two years ago this very day -- July 28, 1868 -- the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and became, at least in theory, the law of the land. That was the Amendment that talked about "equal protection under the law" and the right "to life, liberty, or property" that can't be deprived "without due process of law."

"Needless to say, despite tremendous progress, we are still today trying to live up to the promise and the spirit of the Fourteenth Amendment.  And one of the places where we are still grappling with this challenge is the United States Department of Agriculture. When I took this job five years ago, I quickly discovered that USDA has not exactly been in the vanguard on race over the years. In dealing with our customers, USDA didn't always deliver its services in a color-blind fashion. And when it came to our own people, USDA didn't always create a working environment that was comfortable for minority employees.

        "I have done my very best to address this problem. And I'm proud of the progress we've made. We have dramatically increased our lending to minority farmers. We have reached out in our procurement efforts, awarding more contracts to minority and socially disadvantaged firms. We have made civil rights training mandatory for all USDA employees. And last year, we reached a landmark legal settlement, which has already paid out $300 million to African-American farmers with legitimate discrimination grievances.

       "Improving the civil rights situation at USDA has required plenty of rules, regulations and process, all of which are important. But we can't lose sight of the fact that civil rights, at its core, is about human rights and human relations. Political action and legal reform must continue to be a part of the solution. But at the end of the day, it is the daily encounters between people of different colors and backgrounds that will allow us to banish the stereotypes and turn the corner toward racial tolerance and reconciliation. The Book of Proverbs teaches us: "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." In other words, how we treat each other defines who we are.

       "That's the message I want to leave you with today. The lessons that will prepare you best for life are things that your families have been teaching you for as long as you can remember: the golden rule ("Do unto others..."); be fair, kind and considerate; listen, learn, show respect.

       "And, of course, those values have been reinforced here at Southern. In a society that too often is about "Me First, " at Southern it's "Character First." As you pursue your promising careers and take advantage of the professional skills you've acquired here, don't forget about attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, gratefulness, generosity, orderliness, forgiveness, sincerity and virtue. These are values to live by. You should not only live them but teach and preach them -- to your children, your friends, your colleagues, your neighbors and your acquaintances. Because these are the values that will make for a more decent, more tolerant, more just America.

        "Thank you very much. Congratulations, keep laughing, and good luck in everything you do."

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