Naomi Tutu uses the gift of gab

BY DAVID MCGEE

BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

BRISTOL, Va. – Naomi Tutu said Thursday her penchant for childhood chatter consistently kept her in trouble.

An international human relations scholar and human rights activist, Tutu now uses that gift of gab to try and shore up society’s shortfalls.

Tutu, daughter of human rights activist, South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, was the keynote speaker during Virginia Intermont College’s opening convocation. About 500 students, faculty and local residents attended.

“I loved to talk as a child. My mother says I would talk and fall asleep in the middle of a sentence. I would talk in school, I would talk in church when my father was in the pulpit,” she said.

Ultimately, Tutu realized talking was her path to help others solve problems and bring opposing sides together.

“It [talking] got me in trouble all my life, so how could it be my gift? But here I am talking. That is what I do – I speak. I hope that when I speak, I am giving something to someone,” Tutu said.

During her message, she urged students to find their own gift – or their pearl – and use it wisely.

“The reality, I believe, is we all have gifts and once we find what our gift is, the next challenge is how do we use that gift in the world? The opportunity and challenge is we have to use our gifts to make the world a better place,” Tutu said.

Leaving one’s comfort zone – like young adults adjusting to college life – provides an opportunity for “greatness,” Tutu said.

“Each of us is gifted. Our responsibility is to find out what that gift is. And the gift is the thing that gives you the greatest joy,” Tutu told the students.

Her message resonated with Greg Gough, a freshman from Farmville, Va.

“She is really an amazing person,” Gough said. “For her to come and tell stories about her life – she exemplifies what a successful black person is.”

Gough said he was looking forward to Tutu’s presentation and was pleasantly surprised by her message.

Senior Jordan Shelburne also enjoyed the program, which formally kicks off the academic year at the private, liberal arts college.

“She was very down to earth. Very relatable. I appreciated that,” Shelburne said.

Asked before the program to grade the United States on resolving conflict and improving relations, Tutu said it both passes and fails.

“Sometimes, I think if I didn’t laugh I would cry. If we listen only to the media, we would cry because we see angry voices, divisions and what I call othering – pointing the finger at others for what the problems are,” Tutu said.

“I get to travel around the country and speak on college campuses. So I get to meet amazing people who are making differences in their communities through organizations intent on building bridges rather than building up conflict,” she said. “We are failing in getting the message out that the vast majority of people in this country are working together. Most communities I am in, I am meeting people across religious, racial, ethnic and class backgrounds whose focus is on improving their community.”

Tutu said she makes about 30 such college presentations in a typical year, while dividing her time between the U.S. and Africa. She currently lives in Nashville.

“I spend most of my time talking about the importance of each of us in building a better world. I look at it through the lens of race, the lens of gender and the lens of economic empowerment,” Tutu said. “The theme always goes back to how we are connected to one to another and how each of us is responsible for making a difference in the world.”

Tutu said her parents are spending this semester at sea teaching aboard a ship with 400 students.

“He loves it,” she said of her father.

The event also kicked off VI’s fall convocation series. Other speakers include MSNBC anchor Mika Brezinski on Sept. 11 and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and VI alum Preston Gannaway on Sept. 17.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532