After I read the assignment for the class, I think the central argument of the author was based on the discrimination of people against their color and race. Du Bois is definite that many African Americans over the years have been discriminated in their own country based on their differences in color. He states that discrimination limits individuals from having any future progress. Du Bois argues that years immediately after the Civil war, there was a national neglect to people of race. The courts were biased against the African Americans and tended to favor the black litigants. He states that the Freedmen’s Bureau, which had a role in Reconstruction, failed to protect and defend the black communities. Its only major achievement was to found the African American schools. The author states that some of the enacted policies contributed to the African Americans losing their right to vote, loss of civils status, and also aid for higher education institutions. According to him, the right to vote, civil equality, and youth education are vital essentials for African American progress.
After I read the assignment for the class, the most interesting idea for me was the issue of rising African Materialism in the city of Atlanta. Many people are focused on gaining wealth and forgetting about other life essentials. According to Du Bois, this threatens to replace other considerations, which are critical for the progress of the people. The author states that in education, there is a need for African Americans to get taught about other societal issues, a part of just merely being informed about how to earn money. He states that there ought to be balance between the human culture standards, the levels of lower training and the ideas of life. According to the author, colleges need to train the “Talented Tenth,” who, can have major contribution to improving the lower education and act as a liaison in improving cohesion and great societal relations in the country.
After I read the assignment for the class, the most important contemporary application for me was the Charleston mass shooting in South Carolina, which took place in 2015. Such an incidence shows that as much as there have been substantial gains in the advancing equality and cohesion amongst all in the country, more still needs to be done. This is to ensure that there are less hatred and lesser cases of racial profiling and discrimination. The Charleston mass shooting was committed by a 21-year-old white supremacist, in which nine African Americans were killed at the Emmanuel Africa Methodist church. This church is one of the oldest churches in the country and had served as a center for organizing events related to civil rights. The shooting was a reflection of incidences of intolerance by some individuals towards people of different races, more so the supremacists. The country still has some people who think that one race ought to be superior to others, and hence the hatred and brutality witnessed at the church. There is consequently a need for more efforts to campaign for interrelation amongst all individuals, with no one having the feeling of superiority. Other grave issues that ought to be addressed for the progress of African Americans include matters of public employment, poverty, and lack of education.