[David] Walker refused to believe that public deliberation always proceeded as rational discussion among enlightened subjects, particularly when the discussion had such deadly consequences. For him, rational deliberation about the inferiority of African people was on its face an absurdity. How could one argue rationally with someone who claimed that one lacked reason? Walker’s response was not to assume the irrationality of the claim and then proceed to enlighten his mistaken interlocutor. No. A reasonable and appropriate counter, Walker maintained, was an outpouring that called attention to the absurdity of the utterance… As Walker wrote, ‘You are not astonished at my saying we hate you, or if we are men, we cannot but hate you, while you are treating us like dogs.’

Eddie S. Glaude, Exodus! Race, Religion, and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America

[And for those unfamiliar with David Walker’s Appeal…]

Notes

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