Robert F. Smith: Hutchins Center Honors - W. E. B. Du Bois Medal Ceremony (10-22-2019)

my name is Raymond Jamie quire Harvard College a be in mission American literature Harvard Law School juris doctor Harvard Business School Masters of Business Administration currently vice chairman Citigroup I am so excited to be here president baca most distinguished professor gates and preeminent businessman an exemplary philanthropist Hutchins only you could convene such a gathering and such a hallowed Hall in which I grew up when I get overwhelmed with feelings like this I need to get help from one of the great philosophers of the 20th century James Brown I feel good [Applause] [Music] [Applause] anyways they they told me to restrict my comments to a few minutes but in this room with all these folks with all the material I have and the person about whom I'm going to talk I I could get Pentecostal for those of you who don't know what that means I could spend a couple hours but I'm gonna say like the preacher would say back home I won't be long [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it is truly uh it is truly a privilege to be here amongst such an August group of honorees for such an essential gathering you represent the power and influence which in today's environment we so desperately need you stand tall and the modern-day Mount Rushmore of civil rights thank you for carrying the torch while I am honored and privileged to make this introduction his standing and accomplishments need no introduction this afternoon I plea the Academy give me leave and Liberty to enter Robert Smith into the canons pages so that those or the stewards in doubly indelibly inscribed him in the histories pages please record his tenure as one of the most successful and influential in the 20th and 21st centuries in the global world of business the pantheon of philanthropy and so how how do I introduce a friend whose statue commands so much respect and admiration and is like sharing the gift of a legend whom I've known since his early days he is a Titan amongst the Giants I could recite his biography which is extraordinary with innumerable distinctions included in that biography is the lessons of his parents two noble educators who instilled in him a distinct curiosity and gifted mine that has earned him at least four patents a chemical engineering degree from Cornell and an MBA from Columbia Business School in that biography I could highlight what is implicit Robert Smith lived by the time-tested code of race and equality that in order to be equal you had to be the best he mastered the skills of Finance he became an expert in the language of Technology he demonstrated again and again that he was the best with his unassailable talent with his will to win with his vision of the world's future he did what no one else had done in technology he founded best equity a private equity firm focused on technology software the now and future of technology Robert Smith operates on the frontier Vista has almost 60 billion dollars of capital under management he employs more than 60,000 people in his venture he is without peer I'm reminded of what Ralph Ellison told us in that masterpiece that changed the shape of American literature Invisible Man play the game but don't believe in it [Applause] robert's addendum is until you can run it the day Robert Smith run the game globally and while he is celebrated because of his enormous successes his legacy will be that Robert made billions and that Robert gave away billions [Applause] [Music] he have done well by himself he has done well by others his mother example taught him to give back and even though history will record him as philanthropic royalty it will also record his higher purpose it will show that Robert Smith is the answer to the ever-present question that we ask every kid from the neighborhood streets to the Park Avenue pin houses from kindergarten through graduate school when you grow up what do you want to be in the list of responses especially for black and brown girls and boys they can now say I want to be in technology I want to be an entrepreneur I want to be like Robert Smith and down in Atlanta Georgia just a few months ago at Morehouse College I can just imagine a young student Tyrese Johnson calling his grandfather right after graduation from Morehouse and I imagine the call would go something like this grandpa grandpa we got it done we got it done we graduated from Morehouse today I am a Morehouse man Thank You grandpa we wouldn't have made it here without you and I know you wanted to be here but you couldn't make it because your health but mom and grandma they're here representing they've been shouting you haven't heard yet probably but at graduation we heard a mr. Robert Smith said he was going to pay off all of our student debt [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and tire we should gonna sell I didn't know anybody really had that kind of money especially somebody who looked like me he said I could not believe that it was real he said I know grandpa you you taught me to never cry but I couldn't hold back my tears I know that y'all borrowed a lot of money to keep me here I know that mom will work two jobs and she kept going down at a credit union take money out of savings and I know it was hard and my plan was to work everyday so that I could pay it back and and y'all wouldn't have to worry but then mr. Smith paid it all off we don't have any more student debt and none of my classmates and their families have any student debt Morehouse taught us that we could fly mrs. Smith told us that we could soar up there health care with amigo [Music] and you would hear silence on the other end as his grandfather got himself and then his grandfather said son our prayers have been answered and all I can say is like the scripture says and I believe it was from Psalms so I've been young and now I'm old I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread [Applause] [Music] when y'all get home we gonna pray for Robert Smith where's having change lives and forever and profoundly transformed the global philanthropic and business landscape the Hutchins Center presents Robert F Smith the wev the boys medal [Music] [Applause] well what a beautiful introduction by brother ray from Raymond Jamie prior [Music] it's important to note there would be no Robert Smith if there wasn't a Raymond James wire [Applause] [Music] I first learned of Rey in a magazine over 25 years ago and growing up in Denver Colorado I did know people like ray existed I lived in a beautiful community of black people beautiful black mother beautiful black father who taught me the importance of community who taught me the importance of education of excellence I had a father who on Sundays sang opera in Italian and in German and spoke Latin to his friends and the mother who graduated salutatorian at Dunbar High School in Washington DC and was admitted to Radcliffe College and a grandfather who admitted to me when I wasn't going to college that he didn't have the money to send her to school that carries with me every day and so when I got into Cornell I decided first I'm gonna pick the hardest major that they have and I'm gonna be the best at it [Applause] [Music] and as I was a practicing chemical engineer I've read about Raymond JaMychal a Harvard undergraduate Harvard JD Harvard MBA I said they don't make them any better than that [Music] and I decided it's time to go back to graduate school I was living in New York when I got into the JD MBA program at Columbia University and a good friend of Raymond's and now mine introduced me to Ray and they both changed my life I was thinking of a career and consumer products and packaged goods and they helped me understand the world of capital they helped me understand this world of mergers and acquisitions at the highest levels in the capital structure board level discussions CEOs making decisions and they helped me understand that there were only one or two of them in those boardrooms and that was the hardest thing to do so I said that's what I'm gonna go do and so I joined goldman sachs in the mergers and acquisitions department and I helped start what is our tech group today and every day along the way I thought about that beautiful community that I came from of those people whose hopes and dreams on shoulders like mine I thought about the fact that I had a window of opportunity that opened for me I was born at a time when he decided to desegregate the schools to create opportunity for African Americans to take part in the educational opportunities in this country when they decided to affect forced busing to make that happen some racists decided to burn one-third of the buses so only one bus came to my neighborhood so rather than the entire neighborhood getting to go to a better school only one busload of us did and when I look today years back at the kids who were on that bus versus the kids who were one block away who didn't get on that bus they're just a vast difference in education in there and where they are economically and how their kids are actually progressing and I realize that part of my job is to create opportunity and so when I put all of that together and I think about what I have to do is I have to open that veil I have to get that light into our community and take all of that brilliance that is represented on this stage and all that brilliance that was represented in my neighborhood and ensure they had opportunity to go become the best that they can be so they can become Ray Maguire and Robert Smith to me that's my job it is to liberate the human spirit and I'm fortunate I'm fortunate that I've had a chance to meet people along the way who have helped me educated me giving me tools and skills and experiences and taking chances so that I can do that I'm fortunate to be here at Harvard accepting this medal on behalf of my mother who didn't get to attend Radcliffe so skip thank you for that and I know my mother loves you dearly I want to thank you the Hutchins Center and all that you all do to keep our spirit alive [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hutchins Center

Views: 5,358

Rating: 4.9354839 out of 5

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Length: 18min 16sec (1096 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 26 2019