Many well-meaning intelligent people have argued since the May 17, 1954, decision of the United States Supreme Court outlawing segregation in the public schools that communication between the races has broken down.
Interpretation
The quote discusses the misguided belief that segregation's end has hindered communication between races.
Benjamin E. Mays highlights a paradox where despite the well-intentioned efforts to abolish segregation in schools, there is a perception that communication between racial groups has suffered. This suggests that legal changes alone do not necessarily bridge social divides, emphasizing the complexity of human relationships and the deeper societal issues that influence communication.
In practice
In a speech addressing community issues, one might use this quote to illustrate the complexities of racial relations post-segregation.
The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream...It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin.
In this perilous world, if a black boy wanted to live a halfway normal life and die a natural death he had to learn early the art of how to get along with white folks.
It isn't more light we need, it isn't more truth, and it isn't more scientific data. It is more Christ, more courage, more spiritual insight to act on the light we have.
A child must learn early to believe that she is somebody worthwhile, and that she can do many praiseworthy things.
Whatever you do,strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead and no man yet to be born could do it any better.
He who starts behind in the great race of life must forever remain behind or run faster than the man in front.
Because creation was made in the image of a God who is equally one and many, the human race will finally be reunited and our racial and cultural diversity will remain intact in the renewed world. The human race finally lives together in peace and interdependence. Glory to God in the highest goes with peace on earth.
Let sanguine healthy-mindedness do its best with its strange power of living in the moment and ignoring and forgetting, still the evil background is really there to be thought of, and the skull will grin in at the banquet.
Every person you meet is waging his or her own war against a callous universe that is plotting against them.
When they are preparing for war, those who rule by force speak most copiously about peace until they have completed the mobilization process.
I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.
Most actions derive not from your own initiative but from your family circumstances, your education, your calling, and so on. You must therefore give up a little time to performing actions which derive from yourself alone. They need not be important; quite insignificant actions fulfill the same purpose.
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