Keynote Speaker is a No-Show for Wootton High School Commencement

Friday May 31, 2024 began with cheerful spring sunlight bathing Washington, DC, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre failing to show up to deliver the commencement address to the Thomas S. Wootton High School class of 2024. Just as the blue-robed seniors and their family members began ascending the white marble steps to enter DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Constitution Hall, news murmured that the keynote speaker had cancelled.

The cancellation didn’t seem to be a big concern. There was too much pride and joy all around. You have to be careful with generalizations, but if an American Dream is being realized by anyone in these troubled times, you might do well to hope that these students, their parents, grandparents, and siblings–and the teachers who have helped their students prepare for life–have got a hold of it.

From the happy and expectant faces, you could observe that this school serves one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation. And according to various metrics of academic achievement, it serves its people well. (Note 1)

“This is my moment to be joyful,” said one young man. “Why are you handing me this flyer? I don’t even know who our keynote speaker is!”

What I was handing out was a flier describing the keynote speaker, Karine Jean-Pierre, as “the lead media spin-doctor for the Biden Administration’s support of Israel’s genocide (which includes the slaughter of over 100 journalists).” Some of her statements supporting the continuing genocide were listed in the flier:

* “Repugnant and disgraceful” (Aimed at members of congress who have called for a ceasefire; Oct. 14, 2023)

* “So, I’m going to be careful about red lines” (Backpedaling that an Israeli attack on Rafah, a “safe zone” for Gazans as prescribed by Israel, would be a “red line”; May 7, 2024)

* “We’ve been very clear on where we stand on the ICC” (Echoing President Biden’s statement that the International Criminal Court’s warrant on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is “outrageous”; May 22, 2024)

Down the block, about 20 protesters from CODE PINK were distributing the same flier. (Note 2) They informed the Secret Service guy (who was apparently unaware of the fact) that Ms. Jean-Pierre had suddenly nixed her appearance.

On this day, five months out from elections, Biden’s support for Israel’s slaughter in Gaza may cost him the presidency, as revealed in a recent poll of 900 Arab American voters in four key states: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. “While some national polls show President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza is impacting voters from traditionally Democratic constituencies, this is most clearly the case with Arab American voters. In 2020, Biden bested former President Donald Trump by 59%-35%. In this [May 2024] poll, Biden is now losing to Trump by 32%-18%.”

The work of genocide cannot be carried out without racism, without dehumanizing an entire people. Convincing this Class of 2024 in Rockville, Maryland, USA, that Israel’s campaign of slow genocide (16 years of blockade of Gaza; 76 years of Nakba) and now sped-up genocide (Israel’s war on Gaza and tightening of the noose around the West Bank) is a good and necessary policy will probably be a hard sell for Joe Biden and his team.

The rising generation wants to see and experience collective liberation. They don’t want a world of walls, razor-wire fences, and armed ethnic enclaves, with AI- warfare always happening on the near horizon, always approaching. This is the Rainbow Generation, and they know that brown-skinned people of the Global South are not their enemy. “Tear down this wall,” as a different president once said, could be their motto. These are the voters of today and tomorrow.

I told the fellow wearing the mortarboard and blue robe, “It’s not wrong to celebrate your achievements, while also taking a moment to indicate your displeasure about the words and actions of your keynote speaker. Read the flier, ask around, and see what you think.” Just then we learned the keynote speaker would be a no-show.

And so the great doors of the Hall closed, and the ceremonies began. The street was quiet again. Tomorrow, the White House might explain that Ms. Jean-Pierre cancelled “due to a scheduling conflict.” Or maybe they will claim that “those antisemitic protesters” (like, um, Jewish Voice for Peace and CODE PINK?) would make her "feel unsafe." Or maybe the White House won’t bother to state any reason at all for her absence.

What the Biden Administration apparently fears–and they should– is that many in this crowd do not respect its message, or its saccharine diversions from the facts of its ongoing support for the genocide in Gaza. Biden's team fears that young audiences are finding their voices and will interrupt pomp and circumstance to tell their elected officials what they feel is true.

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Steven Sellers Lapham is a MCPS parent and peace activist. "I'm not pro-Palestinian, I'm not pro-Israeli, I'm pro-Human Rights."

Note 1. Wootton High School’s website reports that the 1,911-member student body is 38% Asian, 37% White, 12% Black/African American, 8% Latino/Hispanic, 5% Native American/Alaskan, 5% Hawaiian/Pacific Island.

Note 2. Folded into the flier was an announcement for the upcoming June 16th Voices From the Holy Land Online Film Salon, the topic for this month being “Two Kids a Day: Israel’s Systematic Incarceration of Children.” The documentary, showing leaked footage of the interrogations of four West Bank Palestinian boys, is almost unbearable to watch. It reveals humiliation and violence that has been ongoing for decades, a systematic destruction of village life and hope, which Israel has accelerated in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.

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