Rep. Filner to UMW Grad Students: Work For Change

• University of Mary Washington Press Release

U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), a 1961 Freedom Rider, spoke at the University of Mary Washington’s graduate commencement ceremony Friday, May 6, urging the students to believe in change—and make it happen.

“Fifty years ago, I got involved. We changed history,’’ Filner said of the Freedom Rides that successfully defied interstate bus travel in the South. “I think you could do the same. Get involved. Change history.”

Filner spoke to about 1,300, including graduates, families, friends and faculty, gathered in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium for the ceremony held to award graduate degrees. A total of 252 master’s degrees were awarded, including 77 master of business administration degrees, 134 master of education degrees, 12 master of science in management information systems degrees and 29 master of science in elementary education degrees.

“You have a responsibility and an opportunity to decide you’ve got to get involved,” Filner told the graduates. “You start in your classroom, your place of work, your neighborhood. You just start.”

Filner’s speech came as part of the university’s conclusion of its 50th anniversary tribute to the 1961 Freedom Rides and to their architect, the late civil rights pioneer James L. Farmer, Jr., who taught at Mary Washington. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, also a Freedom Rider, will address the undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 7.

Filner has been active in the struggle for civil rights since college. As an 18-year-old Cornell University engineering student, he joined the 1961 Freedom Rides and was arrested and imprisoned for several months in Mississippi.

“It was an indelible personal experience. It was a searing experience,” Filner said.

From May to December of 1961, 436 Freedom Riders took part in more than 60 bus rides to test segregated interstate buses and bus terminals in the Deep South. The Freedom Riders met mob violence with nonviolent tactics, which eventually spurred the Kennedy administration to action.

“We did not make America perfect. We changed American history,” Filner said. “Through nonviolent direct action, we refused to meet violence with violence. We met violence with love.”

 “We came out of that experience thinking we could change America,” he added. “There is room for change if you want to make that change. We had an optimism of change that governed our whole lives.”

Following the Rides, Filner returned to college and went on to earn a Ph.D. in the history of science from Cornell. While teaching history at San Diego State University for more than 20 years, he stayed active in community issues such as civil rights, housing, education and job development. He entered politics as a San Diego Board of Education member in 1979. He later served on the San Diego City Council before his election to the House of Representatives in 1992.

The National Education Association honored Filner with the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award in 2003 to recognize his lifetime commitment to human and civil rights and to providing quality education for all students.

A congressman for 18 years, Filner has called for passage of the Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act to create a special section in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate and prosecute crimes that led to activist deaths during the civil rights era.

He has chaired the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs since 2007 and has become nationally known for his work on behalf of veterans. He led the crusade to restore promised benefits to the Filipino veterans and Merchant Mariners of World War II.

Filner represents California’s 51st congressional district, one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the nation and one that includes the entire California-Mexico border. He has fought for federal funding for border infrastructure and has advocated for improved U.S.-Mexico relations.

After Filner concluded his remarks, Daniel K. Steen, Rector of the university’s Board of Visitors, conferred an honorary doctor of humane letters degree on Filner.