Baccalaureate Address
Ray Halbritter Remarks
Shekólih, greetings. Thank you for that kind introduction.
To all of the soon-to-be graduates here today and your families, congratulations. You have achieved such an important milestone and should be extremely proud of your hard work, resilience and the character you have shown.
It is wonderful to be here today to take part in this event. Hamilton College has been a strong partner to the Oneida Indian Nation, and the friendship that has grown between our communities makes it possible for us to celebrate moments like this together. Thank you to Hamilton’s president, Dr. Steven Tepper, and to Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Ngoni Munemo for your commitment to furthering this partnership between the college and the Oneida people. We are grateful for your friendship and honored to have a role in this graduation weekend.
This friendship has a long and storied history that predates the charter of this amazing college. One of our great Oneida leaders, Chief Skenandoah, was laid to rest next to Samuel Kirkland, a missionary to the Oneida people and founder of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy. The academy was the result of his vision for a place where Native children and the children of European settlers would learn together. To Kirkland, this was a noble mission. Today, we would call it assimilation — the desire to educate the Native identity out of these children through classroom training.
In the end, this dream would never really come to fruition. Few Native children attended the school. Before long, those who did began to drift away. Even so, we cannot call the Hamilton-Oneida Academy a failure. It provided the foundation for the beautiful campus and vibrant community you find within it. Today, Hamilton College is among the oldest and most respected learning institutions in the United States. A place where young people come to discover themselves — to identify the roles set forth for them and prepare to live them as fully as possible. The college has also become a place where Kirkland’s vision is more fully and purposefully realized. Numerous Oneida Indian Nation Members have graduated from this institution. At least one Nation Member is enrolled here currently. And I stand before you as the Oneida Indian Nation Representative sharing in this celebration of your achievements. So while the vision laid out for this institution may not have been realized in its earliest moments, they are more clearly seen in the incredible legacy Hamilton College continues to build today.
That is something both Chief Skenandoah and Samuel Kirkland would have found especially meaningful. One of the guiding principles we follow as Oneida people is to do all things for the benefit of the Seventh Generation. We know that our actions and choices have a far-reaching impact and seek to always act with our grandchildren’s grandchildren in mind. The evolution of this college from its humble beginnings and the community it is building today serve as a prime example of this kind of vision.
Now, as you look ahead to your commencement tomorrow, your own legacies on this campus and the ones you will create outside are likely at top of mind. The whirlwind of finals, internships and capstone projects has ended. A new round of decisions and adventures lies ahead. Your parents, professors, mentors and friends are excited and hopeful for you. And with that excitement, you are probably receiving a lot of advice on how you should approach the next chapter in your story.
That is simply part of major transitions like this one. Everyone wants to share their own experiences and their ideas about how you can make the most of your future. You are going to hear a lot of opinions about what you should do and how you should do it. Most of them are worth taking seriously, even if they do not fully resonate with you.
You may have entered this ceremony hoping it would be a reprieve from all of this guidance. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I also have some advice to share with you that I hope will be useful as you look ahead to your commencement tomorrow and prepare to enter the world outside this campus as graduates.
Every group of people has its beliefs about the world and how it came to be. In Haudenosaunee culture, we believe that the Creator made this world and everything within it. From rocks, trees, water and the sun to animals and humanity itself, we are all his creations. And we believe that all things made by the Creator have a role within this creation. This role is your purpose. It provides the instructions for how you should move through the world.
Our traditions hold that we are most successful when we embrace the roles set out for us. That may sound easier said than done. How do you know what your role is supposed to be? It would be so much easier if it arrived in a form letter or came with your diploma. The good news is, you have been preparing for this role your entire life. You took the most concrete steps toward it when you entered this institution four or more years ago. You have spent so much time learning about what interests you, where your passions lie and what you want to be. Everything you have learned about the world and yourself during your time in college has prepared you for the role you will take on in the world outside.
From a very young age, our people are also taught that no role given by the Creator is superior to any other. None is unimportant or could be eliminated. The arrogance of man will tell you that of course people are superior to the natural world - to plants, animals, the water and the earth beneath our feet. Yet how could we be superior to something like water, the source of all life on this planet?
This same lesson applies when we compare ourselves to those around us. Do not assume that because your role will bring wealth and fame that it is superior to the roles that others fulfill. Do not assume that because you will work hard your entire life without achieving these things that your role is less than. Everyone’s role in this world is essential and irreplaceable. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, artists, caregivers, community leaders: all of these and many more are necessary and more interconnected than you may realize. You are the only person who can fulfill your specific role, but that does not mean you can do it alone. None of us can. We need the full spectrum of talents and gifts possessed by those around us. When you leave this world, you will be remembered for what you contribute to this spectrum and the lives you touched by doing so – not for what you acquire or how widely your name is known. What matters most is that you are doing the work you were meant to do and living the life that you are meant to live. When you are, you will feel it profoundly. When you don’t, you will know it is time to return to the instructions the Creator has laid out for you.
That is why it is also critical that we embrace our own roles and do not interfere as others embrace theirs. My ancestors demonstrated the truth of it when they became America’s First Allies, standing alongside American colonists on some of the bloodiest battlefields of the Revolutionary War in the fight for freedom from British tyranny. Doing so created a strong bond between our Nation and the fledgling United States. Even so, our ancestors understood that both entities must remain separate, sovereign and driven by their own goals and needs. In fact, this understanding predates even the founding of this country. In the 1600s, our ancestors codified a similar relationship with Dutch settlers with the Guswenta, or two-row wampum. Its two rows of purple beads symbolize two vessels traveling the river together, one for the Oneida people and one for the settlers. Each vessel would travel side by side, neither trying to steer the other or interfere with its path.
This approach led to peaceful, collaborative government-to-government relations. It is also the right attitude to take into the world. You are not in competition with anyone. You will not find more success by dominating others and taking on what is theirs. You will not do better by letting someone else navigate your journey. Instead, chart your own path. Build bridges with others where you can. Lend support and ask for help when needed. But do not interfere with the roles others have chosen, and do not let others interfere with your own. You will be most successful when you follow your own instructions for this world and proceed in friendship with those who do the same.
None of the advice I have offered today is given in the abstract. It has guided me through my own life and into my role in the world. When I was younger — the same age as many of you preparing to graduate now — I was not sure what my role would be. I became an ironworker, earned money and took pride in doing good work. I did not see myself then as a leader of people or someone who would help build enterprises that would revitalize my community, lift it out of poverty and restore our culture. My path was not clear, even though it was already forming in my heart. That was a frustrating time, one that some of you may be experiencing right now.
I want you to know that if this rings true for you, that does not mean you failed to seize the pivotal moment to begin your role in this world. You may not always know exactly where you belong, even as you’re preparing for the next phase of your journey. Just remember, there is no one pivotal moment. There are thousands of them, and you will have many opportunities to reach for one that is right for you. Even when you do, your role in this world will never stop evolving. You will have time to grow into it. If you’re lucky, that growth will never stop. That has been true for me throughout my entire life. Even today, I find new ways to embody who I am supposed to be and fulfill the role set before me. For your sake and my own, I hope this never changes for any of us.
Today, I know that I have found the role that was meant for me. Even so, that is not always clear to others. Many see me as a contradiction. I often speak about looking to the future and the importance of always moving forward. If you aren’t growing, changing and learning, you are dying. It is an uncomfortable truth but one you must never forget. We cannot live in the past.
Yet as Oneida people, the past is present in everything we do. The legacy of the Oneida people is an incredible one, rich with history and marked by hardship. We once made our lives on vast homelands that stretched from the St. Lawrence River to the Susquehanna River. By the 1800s, these lands were reduced to just 32 acres through illegal treaties and fraudulent sales. The Oneida people found themselves living in poverty that extended beyond simple economics. Governments that had been our sworn partners attempted to inflict upon us a poverty of culture and dignity as well. That is something we cannot afford to forget.
So when I say that we must always look to the future, I do not mean at the expense of remembering the lessons of the past or the sacrifices of those who came before us. That is why cultural preservation is such a central focus of my work as Nation Representative – reviving our language, restoring the remains of our ancestors to our homelands through repatriations, telling our story not just within our own community, but on a national stage and in some of the country’s most prominent institutions.
Is this a contradiction? No at all. This is all part of what my instructions from the Creator contain. My role requires me to heal what has been broken and remember how those wounds occurred while preparing for a future that will protect the Oneida people from experiencing them again. We do not dwell in the past. We honor it and let it propel us to a brighter future.
This is something you will learn too as you embrace your role in all areas of life by launching your career, building lifelong relationships, working for your community or starting a family. These will be wonderful, exciting times that I hope you move through with joy. As you do, you will also make mistakes. You will experience hardships that may feel insurmountable as they occur. You will be treated unjustly, even intolerably so. There will be moments when you are not proud of your choices or your conduct, because you are human. You are not superior to anything else in creation.
That should be a comfort. It means you are allowed to fail and feel grief, anger, resentment and defeat. Do not shy away from those emotions. Feel them, and then remember the role that has been laid out for you. When you do, it will be time to look to the future once again, dust yourself off and get back on the path.
I have spoken a great deal about the role you will fulfill and its undeniable pull. Some of you will never question that. Others will look back and wonder if you made the right choice or tried to live a role that was not your own. You may already be questioning the path you were so sure of when you declared a major or chose a career. This is normal and nothing to fear.
It is simply part of the growth and evolution I spoke about earlier. You may have understood your role in a specific way, but that calling may change over time. There is no shame in that as long as you embrace those changes and make the most of them.
Today, I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family and friends. This is the time for celebration. Tomorrow, as you prepare for everything that comes after commencement, I encourage you to think deeply about the role that is set before you and how you will fulfill it in a way no one else can. If you can do that – just that – you are succeeding in profound ways and will continue to do so for the rest of your life.
Again, congratulations on all of your achievements. Good luck with everything that comes next. And thank you for allowing me to join you in this celebration. It is truly a privilege to be here with you as you prepare to take the first steps toward the incredible lives you are building for yourselves and all you will do to make this world even better than you found it.
