At the Chicanx-Latinx Graduation in June 2019, Professor Carlos Jackson discussed the importance of Beyond the Stats and shared his own story of being system-impacted. 

It has been a privilege to watch these miracles grow and struggle and ultimately graduate. We know you are miracles because for all of us up on stage there are so many we love, who aren't here. Who didn't have this opportunity to go to college, study, grow, and gain the tools become independent leaders who can fill their opportunities and dreams. Or perhaps to put it another way, to have the opportunity and space to dream at all.  

Excerpts from Professor Jackson's address: 

We grew up thinking it was our fault. Our poor performance in schools, our high incarceration rates, our low economic standing were because we didn't pull ourself up by our bootstraps hard enough -- when in fact by studying economics, sociology, history, public health, ethnic studies and the biological sciences, we learned that it wasn't our fault. That we were born into an unequal situation. The thing about this lesson that is so hard is that not everyone gets to learn it. It is unfortunately a lesson that often comes too late in life, and to the select few in our communities that have had the chance to go to a university like UC Davis. 

...

I wanted to take this opportunity to honor these students--those that came before and those that are graduating today--and acknowledge them to reaffirm that they are miracles. I want to stand before them to say that they are why we are here. And it has been a privilege to watch these miracles grow and struggle and ultimately graduate. We know you are miracles because for all of us up on stage there are so many we love, who aren't here. Who didn't have this opportunity to go to college, study, grow, and gain the tools become independent leaders who can fill their opportunities and dreams. Or perhaps to put it another way, to have the opportunity and space to dream at all.