What they feared was not deprivation of the things they were used to and the shadow of poverty, but rather the definite death of their rising dreams.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “What they feared was not deprivation of the things they were used to and the shadow of poverty, but rather the definite…”
Editor's note · Context
This quote captures the fear of losing aspirations and dreams rather than just material possessions among the oppressed.
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Such an assumption is the arrogance of peoples irreverent toward Time and ignorant of the deeds of men.
So wofully unorganized is sociological knowledge that the meaning of progress, the meaning of “swift” and “slow” in human doing, and the limits of human perfectability, are veiled, unanswered sphinxes on the shores of science.
Around us the history of the land has centred for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation’s heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this…
Let the ears of a guilty people tingle with truth, and seventy millions sigh for the righteousness which exalteth nations, in this drear day when human brotherhood is mockery and a snare.