Harvard grad subs convocation speech for powerful poem

One Harvard graduate’s convocation address went above and beyond when he replaced the usual speech format with a spoken-word poem.

Donovan Livingston, who went on to receive his master's at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, spoke Wednesday about overcoming injustice in a powerful and stirring performance.

In his poem, Lift Off, Livingston gets personal and speaks about his own experiences with systemic racism in education:

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen more dividing and conquering. ... For some, the only difference between a classroom and a plantation is time. How many times must we be made to feel like quotas — Like tokens in coined phrases?"

Livingston's poem also included his hope for the future.

“I teach in hopes of turning content, into rocket ships — Tribulations into telescopes,” he says. “So a child can see their potential from right where they stand. An injustice is telling them they are stars Without acknowledging night that surrounds them.”

The convocation speech is going viral on social media, racking up over 5.6 million views on Facebook as of Friday morning. Even Justin Timberlake weighed in:

After the speech was posted, Livingston had this to tweet:

Harvard University's graduation week had its share of other stars, as well. Rashida Jones spoke at the Class Day Exercises:

And Steven Spielberg gave the commencement address on Thursday:

Allie Bice is a student at Arizona State University and a USA TODAY College correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.