An Avalanche of Compassion: Angie Thomas’s Keynote Speech

By Shan Rao

Angie Thomas and Professor Sarah Gambito during Thomas’ virtual keynote speech

As Angie Thomas spoke during her Mary Higgins Clark Keynote Speech on October 7th via Zoom, I couldn’t help feeling her humanity, her presence radiating through the screen. She spoke about her experience growing up, about finding her way both to writing and to activism, and cited the influence hip hop had on her: 

When I tell people that this art changed my life, and gave me a mirror that I needed at the time, it kind of surprises them. Because they come to me, they come into this with their own expectations, their own ideas, their own preconceived notions about this art form [writing]. Hip hop was my introduction to art as activism. 

Thomas’ hip hop influences included Public Enemies, Marvel Chicago, and 2Pac. She explained how these artists were the writers who gave a voice to her own world, who taught her of her own value, that she—and what she was going through—mattered. She highlighted the importance of the visibility she found within hip hop music and cherished as she began her own career as a writer. 

Author Angie Thomas

Thomas shared her experience of moving between her neighborhood and her college just a ten minute drive away, a place that “felt like flying or driving into another planet.” Thomas, the first Black student to graduate from her creative writing program, would code switch when she was on this white, upper class campus in order to feel like she fit in and could be accepted:  

I was careful of how I spoke. I was careful of how I presented myself, because I did not want anyone to ever think I was the angry Black girl, the poor Black girl. I never wanted anyone to assume I was only there because of affirmative action. But that also meant that there were times where I was silent.

Entrenched into Thomas’ keynote also were the horrors of police brutality. She spoke of learning about Emmett Till growing up; how the image of a fourteen-year-old boy who could’ve been her cousin or her neighbor haunted her. It was people like Emmett Till and Oscar Grant that made Thomas realize that activism was essential to her work as a writer. Hearing the way that people at her school spoke of these people made Thomas realize that, for some, the idea that Black lives matter was still radical. She began to write a story in order to process her own emotions surrounding the whole thing. And that story became The Hate U Give. 

Thomas’ debut novel The Hate U Give

Something about the way Thomas spoke felt incredibly real and accessible to college students. She didn’t sugarcoat anything or talk down to us, yet there was no attempt to disguise her message in fancy words as academia often does. Rather, it felt that she was talking directly to each and every one of us, looking out from the webinar and directly into our hearts. Though you could not see them, you could feel the audience suspended and captivated by her words.

There’s power in emotions. But I believe that there’s one emotion that holds more power than the rest and it’s the main emotion our society seems to be deficient in. And that’s compassion. Compassion [...] is our strongest weapon against racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and so many other societal problems. Compassion helps us focus on the why, as opposed to the what, and by understanding the why we view the world through a different lens.

The message of Thomas’ talk was clear: you have a voice that holds power; lean into that and use it. She urged students to think about the people around them, how their lives might differ, to think about the ways that they could make a difference through thought and active work. Closing her talk, Thomas left the audience with a powerful reminder and call to action:

an avalanche is essentially a bunch of snowflakes banded together.

Fordham students can watch a video recording of the event on English Connect.