Under the baobab: The Class of 2024 persevered, left mark on Happy Valley

Congratulations to the Penn State Class of 2024. Over 14,000 students, mostly undergraduates, graduated this weekend. As their parents, teachers and neighbors, we should be particularly proud of these young people. They have endured and excelled under the most difficult circumstances: an economic depression, a pandemic, political crisis and imposed isolation. Many were born in this century and shall carry their stripes and white plums into the next. Most started college in the fall of 2020. What have they learned during their sojourn in Happy Valley?

In the months before they arrived much of the country was in turmoil. Triggered by fears of the pandemic, the economy had experienced one of the worst declines since the depression. On Feb. 27 the Dow Jones average dropped 4.4%, the largest fall in history. March 16 it fell 12.93%, a drop more drastic than Black Monday in 1929. In May, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by Derek Chauvin, a white policeman. Some perceived it as a modern day lynching and believed that Chauvin would be acquitted if he went to trial.

In September, as the students began their first semester, 6.5 million of their fellow Americans had tested positive for COVID-19. More than 200,000 had already died of the incurable disease. Those numbers would grow. As of today, 112 million Americans have developed the disease; 1.2 million died from it. COVID killed more people than the Spanish Flu, the Civil War, WWI, Korea or Vietnam. In the rest of the world, nearly 3/4 of a billion people would contract COVID-19. Over 7 million people died.

Because of the pandemic, most students began their 2020 fall semester online. Only a few actually attended in- person classes. By the spring all classes were online, creating an atmosphere of loneliness and isolation. Students’ social lives consisted of sheltering in place, Zoom meetings and quarantines. Sports and entertainment events were canceled. It was a devastating and desolate way to begin a college career.

President Trump had been impeached before the students arrived and would be impeached again before they began their second semester. Both times he was acquitted by the Republican-led Senate. In between, with the largest voter turnout in history, he lost the presidency to Joe Biden. Trump refused to recognize the validity of the election, claiming he was the legitimate president. On Jan. 6, thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the election. Five people died as a result of that domestic terror attack. Subsequently hundreds of Trump’s supporters were found guilty of crimes from trespass to riot and went to jail. The federal government as we know it teeter-tottered on a precipice.

During their second semester, some order was restored. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were inaugurated. She was the first woman, African American and South Asian to be elected VP. The economy turned around. Successful COVID vaccines were discovered and distributed. Derek Chauvin was prosecuted and found guilty for the murder of George Floyd. Eventually in-person classes were restored, social and sports events resumed. Biden ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan. The postponed Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo a year later. A sense of normalcy, civility and community returned. We could all breathe again.

Then, provoked by global warming we experienced some of the worst storms, tornadoes and forest fires. Russia invaded the Ukraine. The Israel-Hamas war resumed the slaughter of innocents. That was too much. Some of our besieged and battered young people marched in protest, proclaiming the preeminence of human relationship over revenge, peace over war, community over isolation.

They learned those ideas during their time here. Democracy is a noun and a verb. You save democracy by doing democracy. We should be proud of these new young warriors for helping us remember.

Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He was the 2022 Lion’s Paw Awardee and Living Legend honoree of the National Black Theatre Festival. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.