Such an assumption is the arrogance of peoples irreverent
toward Time and ignorant of the deeds of men. A thousand
years ago such an assumption, easily possible, would have
made it difficult for the Teuton to prove his right to life. Two
thousand years ago such dogmatism, readily welcome, would
have scouted the idea of blond races ever leading civilization.
So wofully unorganized is sociological knowledge that the
meaning of progress, the meaning of "swift" and "slow" in
human doing, and the limits of human perfectability, are
veiled, unanswered sphinxes on the shores of science. Why
should AEschylus have sung two thousand years before Shake-
speare was born? Why has civilization flourished in Europe,
and flickered, flamed, and died in Africa? So long as the
world stands meekly dumb before such questions, shall this
nation proclaim its ignorance and unhallowed prejudices by
denying freedom of opportunity to those who brought the
Sorrow Songs to the Seats of the Mighty?
Your country? How came it yours? Before the Pilgrims
landed we were here. Here we have brought our three gifts
and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song--soft,
stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the
gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer
the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire
two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have
done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit.
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