Separation Or Cooperation :: essays research papers fc

Separation or CooperationOne ever feels his twoness, -an American, a Negro two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings two aggressive ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from organism torn asunder.-W.E.B. Du BoisThe Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Black Churchmen both held appear the great promise of rectifying injustices in America. The Declaration of Independence came in resolution to the tyranny of English rule. It trumpeted the lofty goals of equality for all men, an end to English rule, and the end to high taxes on colonists. The Declaration of Black Churchmen was drafted in rejoinder to the continued low socio-economic status of African Americans after the demise of the courtly Rights Movement in the late nineteen-sixties. It has as its goals integration, an end to the exploitative suppress of African Americans, and the to a greater extent amorphous goal of an end to the institutional rage of White America. Even though both resolving powers sought an end to a particular kind of injustice, one failed and the other succeeded in bringing astir(predicate) its goals. My thesis is that the Black Churchmens Declaration of Independence struggles to both setup an us-them and a we modus operandi. The Black Churchmens declaration tries to cooperate with White America in determine to win support for economic development in Black communities. The declaration also tries to vilify White America as a evil force that for hundreds of years has destroyed the hopes of Black Americans. By oscillating amongst these opposite modes of thought the documents rhetorical power and tone changes significantly from the passkey Declaration of Independence. The fundamental structure of the original Declaration of Independence relies on an us-them dichotomy. England is classified as the them, and the colonists as the us. The grievances listed in the document create a clear delineation between colonists and colonized. The gr ievances also place blame straightforwardly on England. They site the taxation policy, the lack of self government, the tyranny of England, and the ill-use of the colonists "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of perennial injuries and usurpations" (Jefferson 1) to justify their right to succeed. As the list of grievances goes on the us-them dichotomy becomes more pronounced until the document explicitly delineates as "us" and a "them", "They in like manner have been deaf too the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce" (Jefferson 3).