Blum's Prayer

Ed Blum

A Prayer for the Democratic Party – from W. E. B. Du Bois (ca. 1910):

“It is never too late to mend. Nothing is so bad that good may not be put into it and make it better and save it from utter loss. Strengthen in us this knowledge and faith and hope, O God, in these last days. Amen.”

With the imminent delegate victory for Barack Obama, it appears that a time of healing is necessary for the Democratic Party. Last summer, I penned an article for History News Network about what the Democratic Party could learn about religion from the life and writings of W. E. B. Du Bois. I hope that the party, especially the more energetic followers of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, will heed these words. Du Bois prayed with his students at Atlanta University in the early twentieth century. I think they give us hope not only in the struggle against racism and misogyny, but also in the efforts for political alliance. Once again, we have so much to learn from the supposedly agnostic left.