Let Us Reason Together John Dubois Analysis

It can further be said that Du Bois created what can be considered a "philosophy of the soul" based on the social injustices and degradations of the African American people that he witnessed and was subjected to himself. Hence, Du Bois generated his own social philosophy to argue that oppression of the African race was unethical and that his race should value fighting to end oppression. He further generated his own political philosophy to argue that his race deserved the same economic, social, and political freedoms as white Americans and that laws should be abolished that currently destroyed these freedoms, such as segregation laws, and that laws should be established to preserve these freedoms. Moreover, Du Bois's call for immediate action also justified the use of self-defense, which is where his philosophies also differ from the later Martin Luther King
In a speech titled "Let Us Reason Together," Du Bois argues for physically fighting against the murderers, the lynchers, and the mobs. However, he warns that African Americans "must never let justifiable self-defense against individuals become blind and lawless offense against all white folk" ("Let Us Reason Together"). In contrast, while Martin Luther King Jr. also developed social and political philosophies in defense of African American civil rights, King argued for a more passive, nonviolent approach. While many pacifists do not exclude self-defense as appropriate and even necessary behavior, King rejected the idea of self-defense and instead argued for organized protestations ("Pacifism"). In fact, among his six principles of nonviolence, he argues for the need to "accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve the goal" ("The King Philosophy: Six Principles of