Hi there,

Immigration raids are spreading across the country. The agencies meant to protect public health are being dismantled from within. Public broadcasting is being defunded... Today, Democracy Now!'s independent reporting is more important than ever. Because we never accept corporate or government funding, we rely on viewers, listeners and readers like you to sustain our work. Can you start a monthly donation? Monthly donors represent more than 20 percent of our annual revenue. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Freedom of Speech

Listen
Media Options
Listen

We bring you some historic tape of the late W.E.B. DuBois, the legendary African American sociologist, founder of the NAACP, publisher of Crisis magazine and author of The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois received his PhD from Harvard University in 1895, one year before the Supreme Court’s historic Plessy Versus Ferguson decision which legitimized institutional racism. This week marks the 100th anniversary of that high court ruling which made “separate but equal” segregation a way of life. In this rare recording of a 1953 speech, given to the Southern California Chapter of Peace Crusade, DuBois talks about the importance of meaningful work and the continuing economic inequality in America. The speech is remarkably fresh, despite the fact that’s its more than 40 years old… The growing gap between rich and poor and economic insecurity are major issues in this election year. Later today in Washington D.C., AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Children’s Defense Fund President Marion Wright Edelman will lead a rally and speak-out on income inequality, calling on Congress, the Administration and both leading Presidential candidates to exercise political and moral leadership in addressing this problem.

Related Story

StorySep 11, 2025“Moment of Great Peril”: Jeff Sharlet on Killing of Charlie Kirk & Rising Political Violence in U.S.
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top