Leading a life is an expensive act. Though today's graduation ceremonies call for a celebratory atmosphere, we must continue to ask important questions-questions which require spiritual, philosophical, and personal investment. Admittedly, these are difficult, destabilizing questions. I do believe, certainly, that a life cannot be measured by the number of battles we avoid. Silence carries a cultural currency equal to that of war, of religion, of love.
Silence is at the heart of our nation's political and social agendas.
This happens literally, as we depersonalize and marginalize certain messages, and at times, kill those we most fear. The case of Mumia has shown that, as subjects of a now conservative State, we value ideological silence more than we value life itself. We would rather kill than imagine a world in which a death row inmate would be allowed the chance to mirror our own failures, both as individuals, and as a nation. The question of who is allowed to speak, and who will choose to listen, has become a haunting inquiry, even at Occidental, where we claim to value all voices. In a world so profoundly erred, and terribly expensive, we must be suspicious of silence, if not downright outraged at it.