The prophecy of democracy states that if we indeed treat each other as created equal and therefore act on the principles of respect for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, or previous condition of servitude, we shall all of us — both the oppressors and the oppressed — be healed of the profound emotional scars that we inherit from earlier and less just forms of human organization, and attain a full human dignity. Like all self-fulfilling prophecies, this prophecy will not fulfill itself on the dawn of a sudden Day of Jubilee. It fulfills itself only as we accept its premises, accept the responsibilities it places on each of us individually, and prepare ourselves, not to fight over and again the battles of yesterday, but to take our places, with pride and dignity, in the changed world of tomorrow.
S. I. Hayakawa, “How to Be Sane Though Negro” (Contact 1, 1958), conclusion.
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S. I. Hayakawa
