Among some of us, I doubt not, this sudden descent of Europe into hell brought unbounded surprise; to others, over wide area, it brought the Schaden Freude of the bitterly hurt; but most of us, I judge, looked on silently and sorrowfully, in sober thought, seeing sadly the prophecy of our own souls.
This quote captures the mixed emotions of Black individuals observing the chaos of World War I, highlighting their unique perspective.
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More from W.E.B. Du Bois
He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.
He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
Away with the black man’s ballot, by force or fraud,—and behold the suicide of a race!
So the Cotton Kingdom still lives; the world still bows beneath her sceptre.