My Own White Guilt

[Christine]

Interesting discussion. The other day I was helping my daughter with her AP History assignment and was thrilled to read this speech by Booker T Washington:

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/

His words resonated deeply with me, and I wish they were required reading for every American - regardless of their color, race, or culture. I talked to my 16 year old, white, privileged daughter about how those words also apply to her as well as others of this 'entitled generation.'

"Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities. . . It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges."