What can it expect but crime and listlessness, offset here and there by the dogged struggles of the fortunate and more determined who are themselves buoyed by the hope that in due time the country will come to its senses?
Du Bois outlines the inevitable social consequences of systemic oppression, while also acknowledging the resilience and hope of those who persevere.
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Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil.
The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.
This waste of double aims, this seeking to satisfy two unreconciled ideals, has wrought sad havoc with the courage and faith and deeds of ten thousand thousand people,—has sent them often wooing false gods and invoking false means of…
But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them.