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“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
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“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all ... The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands - the ownership and control of their livelihoods - are set at naught, we can have neither men's rights nor women's rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.” –Helen Keller
The two powerful quotes above come from two political, social and economically aware individuals that understood how the American Dream was not a reality for many people in the United States.
Helen Keller is known for her heroism of overcoming severe physical odds but her physical handicap turned up her other senses so loud that she saw with her heart, heard with her heart, touched with gentleness and smelled what she couldn’t see. After touring the United States she did not like what she heard, felt, smelled or touched because she sensed many people suffering in a land of plenty. I believe Helen Keller would have told people that she might be physically blind, but it is worse to be spiritually and socially blind and to turn away from the responsibility of making sure each and every one of God's children are treated as human beings, as valued people, as individuals with potential, as intelligent beings and deserving of all that God gave us to enjoy. I believe if she had to choose to be physical blind or socially and spiritually blind she would choose the former because it would not condemn her soul. Sometimes we have to look outside of the box and dare to see what is hidden, be brave enough to search for alternative explanations, be deep enough in our thought process to go beyond the obvious, to be strong enough to hear what we don't want to hear, be spiritually tall enough to be uncomfortable and let truth take its course and to be humane enough to fight for justice, freedom, equality and democracy for all and not a few. We have to dare, like Helen Keller, to speak truth to power and to be willing to live for meaningful convictions so that we can die for something.
The other quote by W.E.B. Du Bois is small but powerful, is short but meaningful, is of a few words but so telling of a country that supposedly stands for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all men but evidence has shown we haven't lived up to that standard. Will you be apart of history and make it happen for all and not just some. Remember, if you are not part of the solution then you are the problem.
Helen Keller is known for her heroism of overcoming severe physical odds but her physical handicap turned up her other senses so loud that she saw with her heart, heard with her heart, touched with gentleness and smelled what she couldn’t see. After touring the United States she did not like what she heard, felt, smelled or touched because she sensed many people suffering in a land of plenty. I believe Helen Keller would have told people that she might be physically blind, but it is worse to be spiritually and socially blind and to turn away from the responsibility of making sure each and every one of God's children are treated as human beings, as valued people, as individuals with potential, as intelligent beings and deserving of all that God gave us to enjoy. I believe if she had to choose to be physical blind or socially and spiritually blind she would choose the former because it would not condemn her soul. Sometimes we have to look outside of the box and dare to see what is hidden, be brave enough to search for alternative explanations, be deep enough in our thought process to go beyond the obvious, to be strong enough to hear what we don't want to hear, be spiritually tall enough to be uncomfortable and let truth take its course and to be humane enough to fight for justice, freedom, equality and democracy for all and not a few. We have to dare, like Helen Keller, to speak truth to power and to be willing to live for meaningful convictions so that we can die for something.
The other quote by W.E.B. Du Bois is small but powerful, is short but meaningful, is of a few words but so telling of a country that supposedly stands for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all men but evidence has shown we haven't lived up to that standard. Will you be apart of history and make it happen for all and not just some. Remember, if you are not part of the solution then you are the problem.