#45. Holding Applause until all Names have been Called at Graduation Ceremonies

Commencement: the end of one thing, the start of another. High school and college graduation ceremonies offer the graduate an opportunity to reflect upon the time, effort and sacrifices put into earning their degree. Surrounded by friends and family, faculty, pomp and circumstance and the tapestries of pageantry, the graduate now holds a degree that will help them pursue their dreams.

The cheers were loud when he walked across the stage.

Conversely, it offers the family members and brood of the graduate an opportunity to revel in the pupil's accomplishments. Proud parents, grandparents, uncles/aunts, brothers and sisters, cousins and girlfriends/boyfriends sit in rapt attention to bask in the moment of the graduate, living vicariously through that person’s accomplishments.

At every graduation ceremony across the nation --whether high school, college, or post-graduate work-- a simple request is requested prior to the festivities commencing: please hold applause until all graduates have been announced.

Though the graduation ceremony is an opportunity to honor the individual, the event is largely a ritual connecting the new graduates to the alumni and instilling bonds to the traditions that are unique to that institution.

At every graduation ceremony across the nation that simple request for silence goes unacknowledged by one group of people, and this subversive response to the laws governing civility is never on greater display then during this sacred event.

Black people find the rigid formality on display at graduation ceremonies boorish and fascistic, an encumbrance on their natural predisposition to be loud and extroverted, and instead subscribe to the theory of vociferous and thunderous applause once the name of their son or daughter is called.

The auditorium, stadium or arena hosting the graduation ceremony will reverberate with the intense cacophony of “hoots” and “hollers” once the Black student strides across the stage to receive their diploma, basking in the sounds of adulation from family members while white people look on in a stoic sense of mock disbelief (snickering privately at the outlandish outbursts).

Graduation rates differ greatly by race, either at the high school level or collegiate level. With an abnormally high dropout rate for Black people at the high school level, it makes some sense for Black people to forget the manners dictating acceptable public behavior and the request to refrain from clapping until all graduating seniors’ names have been called.

Many times at college graduation ceremonies the Black pupil is a first generation graduate, so the incessant cheering seems justified. Coupled with the low graduation rates for Black people in college, the cheering seems ever more so reasonable.

The show of familial support is still a clear violation of the protocols governing proper graduation behavior. Of course, the notion of Black Run America (BRA) precludes anyone from mentioning this in polite company for offending Black peoples sensibilities is the greatest crime and offense one can currently commit.

The individuality and creativity of Black people is on full display at graduation ceremonies and daring to bottle up that raw energy would be a crime:

Graduations are a time of celebration. But this was not the case for five students graduated from Galesburg High in Illinois, but did not receive diplomas.

Everyone was asked to hold their applause until after the ceremony was over which is common practice in schools across the country. Not all schools enforce the policy.


According to The New York Times, Caisha Gayles, one of the students who did not get a diploma, commented: "It was one of the worst days of my life. You walk across the stage and then you can't get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating ,actually." Gayles graduated with a 3.4 grade average…

Some think those denied were targeted because of race. Four of the students denied were black and one was Hispanic. Cheers rang out for white students but they were not denied diplomas.


Principal Tom Chiles denies the incidents had anything to do with race. Decisions were made according to the amount of disruption. Other students who were minorities got their diplomas. "It doesn't matter how hard you work, you get discriminated against," Gailes said, according to ABCnews.com. The American Civil Liberties Union reported it did not raise any concern with them and it is within the school's ability to control these situations.

Black people find the notion of a six-inch voice repressive and being forced to follow the rules established by society (i.e., white people) repulsive. By crying racism, Black people are exempt from the totalitarian and repressive idea of being quiet during a movie or holding applause until every graduate's name has been called.
This is an example of the special powers and privileges Black people take advantage of in Black Run America (BRA), for no one will dare call them out on any of their transgressions for fear of violating their delicate nature.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes holding applause until all names have been called at graduation ceremonies. Lacking self-restraint to follow the rules constituted by proper decorum and possessing a “look at me” attitude (most evident in the sporting arena), Black people gesticulate and whoop with reckless abandon at graduation ceremonies, unaware that the majority of people in attendance merely look upon their self-indulgently narcissistic display of pride with a sense of extreme embarrassment.