https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQe88IHi2fI
(Video Above: Alabama native Tim Cook gives the commencement address at George Washington University)
WASHINGTON — In a commencement address to the graduates of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. this weekend, Alabama native and Apple CEO Tim Cook had some harsh words for the state’s most widely known former governor.
In 1977 Cook traveled to Montgomery with some other students to meet Governor George Wallace before flying to Washington as a reward for winning an essay contest.
Though Wallace had begun “evolving” past his previous views on desegregation and become somewhat of a hero to Democrats, including African Americans, Cook said “Meeting my governor was not an honor for me.”
“Shaking his hand felt like a betrayal of my own beliefs. It felt wrong, like I was selling a piece of my soul.”
Cook contrasted meeting Gov. Wallace with the opportunity he soon had to meet then-President Jimmy Carter. “Carter was kind and compassionate. He held the most powerful job in the world, and had not sacrificed any of his humanity,” Cook said. “It was clear to me that one was right and one was wrong.”
Cook went on to proclaim he is a “proud son of the South,” and referenced Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” calling on good people to stop being silent.
“It’s about finding your values, and committing to them,” Cook continued. “It’s about finding your North Star. It’s about making choices. Some are easy. Some are hard. And some will make you question everything.”
The sidelines are not where you want to live your life. The world needs you in the arena. There are problems that need to be solved. Injustices that need to be ended. People that are still being persecuted. Diseases still in need of cure.
No matter what you do next, the world needs your energy, your passion, your impatience for progress.
Don’t shrink from risk. And tune out those cynics and critics. History rarely yields to one person — but think, and never forget, what happens when it does.
That can be you. That should be you. That must be you.
An alumnus of Auburn University who was born and raised in Alabama, Cook is arguably one of the state’s most successful natives. In the last several years he has led Apple to be the most profitable company in history, and since coming out as gay, become one of the most high profile advocates for LGBT issues.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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