Carolina QuotesWhence this sneaking admiration we all have for bullies and prize-fighters? Whence the self-congratulation of “dominant” races, as if “dominant” meant “righteous” and carried with it a title to inherit the earth? Whence the scorn of so-called weak or unwarlike races and individuals, and the very comfortable assurance that it is their manifest destiny to be wiped out as vermin before this advancing civilization? As if the possession of the Christian graces of meekness, non-resistance and forgiveness, were incompatible with a civilization professedly based on Christianity, the religion of love!
Anna J. Cooper Carolinian
Source
p. 51
- work
- A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South (1892)
- year
- 1892
- locator
- p. 51
Cite this record
“Whence this sneaking admiration we all have for bullies and …” Anna J. Cooper. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-8B842B0E36. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/8b842b0e36
More from Anna J. Cooper
Respect for woman, the much lauded chivalry of the Middle Ages, meant what I fear it still means to some men in our own day—respect for the elect few among whom they expect to consort.
We too often mistake individuals’ honor for race development and so are ready to substitute pretty accomplishments for sound sense and earnest purpose.
Jesus believed in the infinite possibilities of an individual soul. His faith was a triumphant realization of the eternal development of the best in man—an optimistic vision of the human aptitude for endless expansion and perfectibility. This truth to him placed a sublime valuation on each individual sentiency–a value magnified infinitely by reason of its immortal destiny.