Grads Say It Loud: They’re Black, Proud Ceremony Honors African American Students For Their Commitment And Cultural Identity

It was the perfect result for a sophomore effort. In its second year, Spokane’s African American Graduation Celebration grew to twice its original size.

Thirty-two students graduating from high school, college and law school donned striped sashes Saturday - Kente cloths from Ghana - as symbols of their achievement. Those achievements especially need to be spotlighted in the mostly white Inland Northwest, organizers say, where black students can feel isolated from their cultural peers.

“I go to a law school, and I’m the only African American male graduate this year,” said Gonzaga student Uri Clinton. “And that’s out of 160.”

An auditorium at Spokane Community College was jammed with students, parents and friends. The Kente cloths awarded to graduates are traditional ceremonial sashes from West Africa.

The practice of awarding them in the United States is spreading.

“It’s happening all over the country,” said Denise Osei, vice president of Spokane’s NAACP chapter. “It’s just new to Spokane.”

They were once worn only by those of royal birth, Osei said.

Now, they’re given freely to those who achieve - a birthright available now to all who work hard. And that hard work is something organizers said is too often overlooked.

“Everything you hear about our African American youth is negative,” organizer Voncille Molett said. “We want to promote the positive side.”

And even when they are recognized by society, it’s too often only for music or arts achievement, Osei said. That’s not a complete picture. “We want people to know we have geniuses in our population as well,” Osei said.

Students like Noreana Emery-Cloy and Rache Stotts-Johnson. Both won $500 college scholarships. And they’re friends graduating from North Central this year.

Neither was surprised that the other won a scholarship. It’s not tough to see why.

Emery-Cloy has a 3.91 grade-point average, is vice president of her class and has a paragraph-long string of organizations and sports she is involved in. She’s heading off to Lewis and Clark College in Portland in the fall to study criminology and psychology.

Stotts-Johnson leaves North Central with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Like her friend, she’s a leader in just about everything she tries. She’ll head to the University of Washington in the fall to study economics and the sciences.

For them, the ceremony was about not only recognizing their own achievements. It was about showing others how far they can go.

“It signifies hope,” Emery-Cloy said.

And they got a chance to see what their futures may hold, too. Uri Clinton is now off to work in the district attorney’s office in sunny Las Vegas. He attended GU law school on full scholarship.

“That’s what will happen when you work hard,” he told the two younger graduates.

The ceremony concluded with a song ending in the line “Let us march on, ‘till victory is won.” Then the air split with the sound of a battery of drums.

“We are making progress,” Dr. James Williams, president of SCC, told the crowd.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo