Former cabinet official to address CCC commencement

CLARKSDALE – “During troubled times, there are multiple opportunities for young people,” remarks former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy who is delivering the commencement address Saturday at Coahoma Community College.

Speaking from his office in Jackson, the former cabinet official during the Clinton administration says he plans to outline how to move forward and to focus on graduates taking personal responsibility.

“I will be brief, but I enjoyed the civil rights dialogue with students at Coahoma in February, and plan to continue the theme we began,” he said.

During Black History month, Espy and other state leaders participated in a racially-mixed forum billed as “straight talk on race, slavery, civil rights and change.”’

“Don’t be a coward to excellence,” he charged the standing-room-only audience.

“In our region, we have work to do when it comes to the economy. We have a lot to do, and we need to turn to each other not against each other,” Espy continued.

A former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi’s second congressional district, he currently works as principal advisor to foreign governments on agricultural programs and lectures globally on rural development.

The public is invited to attend CCC commencement at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, when degrees and certificates will be conferred on 273 graduates and special honorees will be graduates of the class of 1959.