Asher Sisneros

Booker T. Washington held two beliefs on racism. The first belief was that Negroes would learn to find acceptance into social norms through Capitalism. I focused on that topic in my last English essay. In this essay, I will discuss the second topic: the timeframe until Negroes were accepted. 

Booker rightfully predicted that eliminating racism wouldn’t happen overnight. Instead, it would be a multi-generational slow process. Politics changes with culture; culture changes with time. He estimated that it’d take fifty years for blacks to be accepted into society and given the same privileges as whites. Booker’s prediction was almost spot on. I find this significant because of the Overton Window. Overton Window is a political theory that all social and political policy falls within a window. You have the two radical views pushing the window in each direction and the acceptable public stance falling in the middle of that window. Because both parties are pushing the window, it requires time to make a change. In Booker’s case, the people fighting against racial integration were groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. 

It is fascinating how someone uninvolved in politics could recognize how long it would take for society to change.  Positive change doesn’t happen overnight but over generations. It’s only through building upon your parent’s progress that momentum isn’t lost. Throughout Booker T. Washington’s life, he stumbled upon that truth. Slow progress was the only way that racism would die in America. I believe that truth is still valid today. 

Booker constantly preached that hard work and doing the right thing always triumphed. He dedicated his life to educating his race. His cause was just, and he worked tirelessly at it; that is the only thing he attributes to his school’s success. While I think that’s an understatement, the sentiment is true. In the end, good always triumphs over evil. Evil may even be victorious in the short term, but eventually, every evil enterprise will come crashing down. In Booker’s case, that wicked enterprise was slavery. It made his race dumb, made the slave owners dependent, and was unethical. His conclusion on wicked ultimate failing applies to our time and our circumstances. Our cause must simply be just, and we must be tireless in promoting it.