HAMPTON, Virginia – A formerly incarcerated man now pardoned and first Black speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates told Hampton University graduating seniors to stand tall despite attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Speaker Donald Scott, Sunday’s commencement speaker for one of the country’s oldest HBCUs, addressed the U.S. political climate: “DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] is a dirty word. But you know better. The whole world is trying to be like you. They want your swag.”
Scott added, “Don’t shrink yourself to meet someone else’s expectations. Don’t dim your light. You’re not here to be small, you are here to shine.”
Scott is among those leaders who are encouraging young Black people just beginning their careers and adult lives to stay positive in the face of current climate of increasing racism and attacks on DEI and Black history. The speaker also shared his dramatic personal story to offer inspiration.
Five minutes into his 23-minute commencement address, Scott acknowledged the low point of his life: “While at LSU law school, I made a mistake. I got tangled in a drug conspiracy. In 1994, I was sentenced to 10 years. I thought my life was over.”
Some of the 670 Hampton University imminent graduates gasped.
Scott continued: “My mom yelped with pain in the courtroom. But in 2024, mom was there when I was sworn in as the first Black speaker of the Virginia General Assembly.”
His message to graduates, “Tough times are not your enemy. They’re your teacher. You’re going to have challenges and adversity. How are you going to face it? The most powerful thing on this planet is a made-up mind. There’s no time for pity parties. I don’t see one person here not up to the fight. Ya’ll are ready for all the crazy going on in this world.”
Scott also addressed the direct assaults on higher education.
“Have you been watching the news? Harvard, Columbia, and Yale are getting a tiny taste of what HBCUs have dealt with for the past 100 years. We’ve been the backbone of this country for centuries. America needs us now. Squabble up.”
He referred to the Trump administration this season freezing $400 million in appropriated research funds to Columbia. During negotiations, Trump froze an additional $700 million, raising the tab to $1.1 billion, Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb told alumni May 3.
Trump’s next target was Harvard, and he threatened to freeze $2 billion in research funding. The Crimson emphatically said “no” to negotiations and fought the administration in court. HBCUs such as Hampton have tried to stay under the radar and not tangle publicly with the White House. A motivation was that Hampton recently regained its R-2 [research university] status and was aiming to build on the $23 million it earned in competitive research awards during the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Scott, a transplant from Houston, won over many of the 13,000 family, friends, and graduates packed inside the campus Convocation Center arena with repeated affirmations. He offered historic anecdotes too about Hampton Roads: In 1619, the Virginia House of Burgesses, America’s oldest governing body, convened. Also, that year and one mile from the Hampton campus, 20 enslaved Africans enroute to Jamestown initially touched American soil at Old Point Comfort fortress in the Hampton harbor.
Scott settled in the seaside city of Portsmouth, Virginia, and married Mellanda Colson, a Hampton alumna who also earned a dentistry degree from Howard University. In 2014, he passed the commonwealth bar exam on the first try, “not because I was smart,” he said to applause, “but because I was disciplined and focused.” Next, Scott was elected delegate in the Virginia General Assembly. He said while some people advised him to lay low because of the blemish on his record, Scott answered, “We gotta shake things up.” He worked with colleagues in 2023 to build a Democratic majority and wrest control from the Republicans. Last year he was rewarded when colleagues elevated him to speaker of the House of Delegates in Richmond.
In January, President Joe Biden pardoned Scott for his indiscretion in Louisiana. And in the past three years, Scott’s law practice yielded $100 million in settlements. At the end of his address he announced that Hampton received a $100,000 gift in the name of his wife Mellanda Colson Scott to endow scholarships for chemistry majors on campus.
“We can afford it,” he said.
