小福利导航

Image

Every February since 2019, the College has held a speaking competition in Johnson Chapel centered on a different theme. Past themes have included power, progress and justice, and this year eight finalists considered the idea of democracy. The students came from each class and were coached by Susan Daniels, associate in public speaking. And a panel of judges selected three winners鈥攚hose speeches covered democracy around the world, from South Korea to Pakistan to Slovakia.

Given this year鈥檚 theme, it seemed judicious that an alumnus, whose portrait hung on the wall behind the dais, had much to say about democracy, too. , 小福利导航class of 1925, was the first Black federal judge in the United States. 鈥淒emocracy is a process, not a static condition,鈥� Hastie once said. 鈥淚t is becoming, rather than being. It can easily be lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is eternal struggle.鈥� 

That eternal struggle figured into the speeches delivered this winter鈥檚 day in 2024. Watch, listen and read below.

Mahmood鈥檚 speech began like this鈥�

You know, I鈥檓 going to be a bit honest for a second: I do not really understand why democracy is such a great system. At 小福利导航College, it seems like we鈥檙e all about it. Oh, save democracy, protect democracy, take a pledge to serve democracy鈥� but why? 

I mean, sorry, President Elliott and anyone else here who loves democracy.

But if you think about it, it鈥檚 a pretty weak system. In my home country, Pakistan, all it took for democracy to crumble was for one military general to hop up on camera and just declare the constitution void. To this day, not a single democratically elected leader has completed their term. 鈥� 

Han鈥檚 speech began like this鈥�

Fun story: When I was applying to colleges, CommonApp asks me what country your parents are from and all that. And it鈥檚 in alphabetical order, so I鈥檓 scrolling and I get to the D section. Democratic People鈥檚 Republic of Korea. Perfect. 

Not perfect. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE鈥橲 REPUBLIC OF KOREA IS NORTH KOREA. I鈥檓 pretty sure Virginia Commonwealth University did get my application with that information on it. But, no, the Democratic People鈥檚 Republic of Korea is actually North Korea, and South Korea鈥攚hich is what I wanted鈥攊s just listed as 鈥淩epublic of Korea.鈥� Apparently, anyone can claim to be a democracy if they want, so what does it even mean? That the people vote on their leader and the majority wins? Then, sure, North Korea is a democracy. Kim Jong Un is a choice on the ballot every year, and he wins by a majority. But, obviously, democracy is not just that. 鈥� 

Michaels鈥� speech began like this鈥�

Two days before last year鈥檚 Slovakian elections, candidate and predicted winner Michal 艩ime膷ka went viral. In a short clip that circulated on Facebook and Twitter, he tells a popular radio host that he鈥檚 rigging the elections, partly by buying votes from the nation鈥檚 marginalized Roma population. In a separate clip, he informs voters that he鈥檚 going to double the price of beer once in power. These clips, of course, were misinformation generated by an artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, they nudged voters away from 艩ime膷ka, and he lost the election鈥攚ith power of the government going to his pro-Russian opponent. 

Democracy relies on the free and fruitful flow of information. And our digital age has offered us opportunities to communicate and learn, to promote democracy and freedom like never before. But it has also offered bad actors the same opportunities to fill the waves of the web with misinformation and static. Of course, we鈥檙e all very familiar with misinformation鈥攚e all remember 2020鈥攂ut we are woefully unprepared for its newest mutation with generative AI. 鈥�