Du Bois marked a great stage in the history of Negro struggles when he said that Negroes could no longer accept the subordination which Booker T. Washington had preached.
C. L. R. JamesRead
It is over one hundred years since the abolition of slavery. The Negro people in the United States have taken plenty and they have reached a stage where they have decided that they are not going to take any more.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the determination of the African American community to stand against oppression after a long history of suffering.
C. L. R. James reflects on the significant historical achievement of the abolition of slavery over a century ago, highlighting that the African American community has endured a legacy of hardship and oppression. He notes that they have reached a point of resilience where they refuse to accept further injustices, illustrating their strength and resolve to fight for their rights and dignity.
In practice
During a Black History Month event, this quote can be used to inspire discussions about civil rights.
Du Bois marked a great stage in the history of Negro struggles when he said that Negroes could no longer accept the subordination which Booker T. Washington had preached.
Technological discoveries are the spermatozoa of social change.
One of the surest signs of the estimated changes in the consciousness of the American proletariat is to be found in the character of the demands now being put forward by the leadership.
Capitalism has socialized production. It has brought thousands of people together in the factory and involved them in new social relationships.
I was a Labour Party man but I found myself to the left of the Labour party in Nelson, militant as that was. I came to London and in a few months I was a Trotskyist.
Today, in American imperialism, the commodity has reached its most grandiose historical manifestation.
It felt like I'd been living underground, and for a moment, I'd been given this glimpse of the sky. Once you've seen that, how can you go back where you came from?
Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.
The biggest political change in my lifetime is that Americans no longer assume that their children will have it better than they did. This is a huge break with the past, with assumptions and traditions that shaped us.
My goal is to achieve a little less injustice in Uruguay, to help the most vulnerable and to leave behind a political way of thinking, a way of looking at the future that will be passed on and used to move forward. There's nothing short-term, no victory around the corner. I will not achieve paradise or anything like that. What I want is to fight for the common good to progress. Life slips by. The way to prolong it is for others to continue your work.
Like the other great revolutions, an environmental revolution will require sacrifices and lead to enormous gains. It, too, will change the face of the land and human institutions, hierarchies, self-definitions, cultures. It will take centuries. If it happens. There is no guarantee, of course.
Thus, for those who are willing to go out into the field, to look and to listen, changing demographics is both a highly productive and a highly dependable innovation opportunity.
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