Your Morning Du Bois
For Thursday, May 8th, 2025
Week 113 of our regular morning feature here at Friedman of the Plains Worldwide in which we highlight the great words and works of great men and women, as well as those who are insufferable, delusional, and even fictional.
This Week W.E.B. Du Bois
“But one thing is sure and that is the fact that since the fifteenth century these ancestors of mine and their other descendants have had a common history; have suffered a common disaster and have one long memory. The actual ties of heritage between the individuals of this group, vary with the ancestors that they have in common and many others: Europeans and Semites, perhaps Mongolians, certainly American Indians. But the physical bond is least and the badge of color relatively unimportant save as a badge; the real essence of this kinship is its social heritage of slavery; the discrimination and insult; and this heritage binds together not simply the children of Africa, but extends through yellow Asia and into the South Seas. It is this unity that draws me to Africa.”
One of Robin Williams's many brilliancies was his morphing into the form of an extremely effeminate faith healer who would put his hand on someone's forehead and shout, "Get over it!" A large number in this world and especially America would like those whose only recent heritage is either slavery or recovery from slavery to essentially forget it ever existed. I can see JD, with his pout and eyeliner, reprising Robin's character.