Earlier  this year I gave out degrees and doctorates to a diverse talented and relieved set of graduates from  University of Huddersfield.   One graduate received his first class degree, got a new job and became a father in the same month. He sent me  a photograph of his wife with their new born child.  Today  a different parent  Sarah Stewart has made my day because she wrote me. With her permission I’ve reproduced the mail.

Dear Lemn

“I’ve been wanting to thank you for a while. You gave the speech at my daughter’s graduation ceremony in Huddersfield on the morning of 22 July this year. It was a highlight, a joy. Most of all my two beautiful daughters watched and listened and believed. Something shifted. They connected.

They have grown up, black in an overly white environment. They have shone. They have always felt slightly apart. You shared and they were less apart. So thank you.

Sarah Stewart