By: Jasmine Gates
Changing Our Narrative
When I watched Missy Elliot’s acceptance speech upon receiving her Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. I couldn’t help but think about Alice Walker’s book, “In Search of our Mother’s Garden.” There’s a part in this book where Alice Walker writes about the times of our grandmothers and further up the lineage. Explaining that most of them passed on never getting a chance to express their artistry and creativity, ultimately leaving their gifts stifled, which resulted in this garden of their most precious gifts.
In listening to Missy Elliot’s speech and recalling her countless works of art, it was made evident to me that she truly is a flower that blossomed from this Garden Alice Walker wrote about. We are so used to seeing a high energy, extremely confident, risk taking Missy. However, hearing this speech allowed us to see her in a very humble light. Not only was it a light of humility but also a gracious one, where the underlying theme of the speech was “You have come too far to give up.” No matter how successful we see Missy Elliot, this speech let us know that the road to success is not an easy one and we were reminded what matters most is that we continue to get up and put our best foot forward.
With all of the encouragement, Missy also spoke on a few discouragements. One being the year she was nominated for 12 Grammys and prepared a speech expecting to win at least 1. However, when the night came to an end, no one heard the speech because she walked away without a single Grammy. Missy also spoke about an illness that attacked her nervous system causing it to shutdown leaving her unable to do the very thing that fueled her. After explaining about 4 different instances of discouraging moments in her life she reminded us that she kept going and continued to push through the discouragement working hard, remaining patient and staying dedicated.
Now as of 2019 she has won 4 Grammys and has received a Honorary Doctorate from Berklee, one of the most prestigious schools of music and she is the first female rapper to do so.
In closing, she gracefully wrapped up her speech, thanked everyone and reminded the graduates that as a result of this big accomplishment, they too could say they have come too far too quit and she encouraged them even then to never give up!
Congratulations to the flower from our Mother’s Garden and the entire Class of 2019.
