#du bois
Sweetboy Kewpie - Yamantaka
We find in the contemplative work of African-American writer W. E. B. Du Bois themes which run parallel with the teachings of the Buddha. Included among them is the painstaking reality of suffering and cyclic existence - the microcosm of tragedy and comedy which enacts itself in human relationships and nature, forming a macrocosm encompassing all. These multidimensional dynamics, although cloaked in shadows, were valuable guides on both of their contemplative paths.
Continued: https://unityinplurality.blogspot.com/2020/07/dark-water.html
“Long tongues of dark and golden land lick far out into the tossing waters… It is a mighty coast—ground out and pounded, scarred, crushed, and carven in massive, frightful lineaments… Near us lie isles of flesh and blood, white cottages, tiled and meadowed.”
~ Du Bois, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil
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“Most men today cannot conceive of a freedom that does not involve somebody’s slavery. They do not want equality because the thrill of their happiness comes from having things that others have not.”— W.E.B. Dubois (via st-just)
I believe in God who made of one blood all races that dwell on earth. I believe that all men, black and brown, and white, are brothers, varying, through Time and Opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and in the possibility of infinite development.
Especially do I believe in the Negro Race; in the beauty of its genius, the sweetness of its soul, and its strength in that meekness which shall inherit this turbulent earth.
I believe in pride of race and lineage itself; in pride of self so deep as to scorn injustice to other selves; in pride of lineage so great as to despise no man’s father; in pride of race so chivalrous as neither to offer bastardy to the weak nor beg wedlock of the strong, knowing that men may be brothers in Christ, even though they be not brothers-in-law.
I believe in Service–humble reverent service, from the blackening of boots to the whitening of souls; for Work is Heaven, idleness hell, and Wages is the “Well done!” of the Master who summoned all them that labor and are heavy laden, making no distinction between the black sweating cotton hands of Georgia and the First Families of Virginia, since all distinctions not based on deed is devilish and not divine.
I believe in the Devil and his angels, who wantonly work to narrow the opportunity of struggling human beings, especially if they be black, who spit in the faces of the fallen, strike them that cannot strike again, believe the worst and work to prove it, hating the image which their Maker stamped on a brother’s soul.
I believe in the Prince of Peace. I believe that War is Murder. I believe that armies and navies are at bottom the tinsel and braggadocio of oppression and wrong; and I believe that the wicked conquest of weaker and darker nations by nations white and stronger but foreshadows the death of that strength.
I believe in Liberty for all men; the space to stretch their arms and their souls; the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of God and love.
I believe in the training of children black even as white; the leading out of little souls into the green pastures and beside the still waters, not for pelf or peace, but for Life lit by some large vision of beauty and goodness and truth… .
Finally, I believe in Patience–patience with the weakness of the Weak and the strength of the Strong, the prejudice of the Ignorant and the ignorance of the Blind; patience with the tardy triumph of Joy and the mad chastening of Sorrow–patience with God.
