Welcome to the ICS Newsletter page!
This page will consist of any ICS updates, upcoming events, class info, student thoughts and shared feedback. We will also highlight students for their good deeds, honorary success, and any Duke recognitions. Please feel free to share, give us feedback, and support!
CONGRATULATIONS MICHAEL RAMOS!
We are beyond proud of your hard work and effort to gain such great accomplishment. Please be sure to check out his wonderful speech and takeaways.
Samuel Dubois Cook Award Recipient Speech 2/9/26
Good evening everyone. I am incredibly grateful and honored to be accepting this award named after Dr. Samuel Dubois Cook, an incredible mind, activist, scholar, and human being that we’ve had the privilege of having here at Duke. Upon accepting the award, I sought out Dr. Cook’s scholarship to learn of his brilliance that has allowed me to be at an institution like Duke.
Dr. Cook was quoted multiple times in giving praise to one of his great mentors, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays,- his professor while attending the Morehouse College and later colleague in his academic career. Dr. Cook when reflecting on Dr. Mays said and I quote:
“He said we were our dreams; we were what we aspired to be. And that resulted in something of a miracle because we believed it.”
And I’ve had that amazing sense of belief instilled in me by the incredible people that make up my universe that I would like to honor here today.
Because when you honor me you honor my incredibly hard working single mother- whom im lucky to take after her intellect and dream seeking nature.
When you honor me you honor my father- a man of great patience.
When you honor me you honor my incredible girlfriend, Dani, who is a great light in my life- constantly learning from her brilliance.
When you honor me you honor the incredible mentors, friends, extended family for all the nurturing and lessons I’ve learned. I applaud you and hope you’ve learned from me as well.
I also take this moment to call on Dr. Cook’s words when reflecting on his friend and classmate at Morehouse, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Cook presented this tribute during his 20th class reunion in 1968: “One of the greatest ironies of American history is that Martin Luther King was called, by some people, "trouble-maker" and "peacebreaker," as well as an "agitator." He was-in a sense. But on the deeper and ultimate level, he was a prophet of genuine social peace and harmony and an authentic apostle of "law and order."
I believe I am up here today for the trouble making and agitating that I’ve engaged in. In Durham through helping Latino workers in protesting their bosses to recuperate stolen wages or through extending a system of community defense against the inhumane immigration raids we see attacking our communities. I took the troublemaking here on campus as well.
Because when you honor me you honor my amazing friend, Luis, Duke’s premier party bus driver. When Luis’ temporary protective status was illegitimately in danger of being stripped away by the federal government, we the students rose to the occasion to call for Duke to do more. Through large gatherings, calls for a press conference, gathering at North Carolina’s legislative building, the university took notice. While Luis was away from work for 5 months, the financial and emotional community support kept him afloat, and after a judge’s overruling, this week Luis is working once again in the community he loves.
And with that I want to say thank you and leave you with one more brilliant Dr. Cook quote continues to be relevant as we seek to dismantle unjust systems that would see the abolishment of ICE and police brutality, a free Palestine, and a dignified present moment and justice for future generations. When engaging and guiding student activists, Dr. Cook said “You want to destroy the wrong not the man”. I commit myself to this mission towards destroying wrong and implementing right at a systemic level and hope we all can do so together. Thank you and I’m incredibly honored.