--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No people can more exactly interpret the…" description: "\"No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e0/w-e-b-du-bois-2240_arrested_no-people-can-more-exactly-interpret-the_272106.png" --- # No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of… ![“No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.” quote by W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e0/w-e-b-du-bois-2240_arrested_no-people-can-more-exactly-interpret-the_272106.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e0/w-e-b-du-bois-2240_arrested_no-people-can-more-exactly-interpret-the_272106.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e0/w-e-b-du-bois-2240_arrested_no-people-can-more-exactly-interpret-the_272106.png) > “No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.” [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author critiques systemic oppression, describing how Black people are unjustly punished and killed, exposing racial injustice. **In simple terms:** Black people face violent oppression and false accusations. Key Takeaway Advocate for justice and systemic change. Themes racism injustice violence Mood somber urgent Type political social When to use this quote - law enforcement - judicial system - community safety - activism Key Concepts systemic oppression civil rights Questions to Reflect On - How can societies dismantle systemic racism? - What role does accountability play? A Different Perspective Change requires confronting entrenched power structures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assault/) [Ireland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ireland/) [Irish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irish/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Present situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/present-situation/) [Schemes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/schemes/) ## Related quotes > [Our view is that we would want to see the situation in Ireland resolved, but we do not intervene in that situation for tactical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mugabe/our-view-is-that-we-would-want-to-see-the-situation-in-ireland/) [Robert Mugabe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mugabe/) > [One ever feels his twoness - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/one-ever-feels-his-twoness-an-american-a-negro-two-souls-two-thoughts/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [An American, a Negro... two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/an-american-a-negro-two-souls-two-thoughts-two-unreconciled-strivings/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [If the leading Negro classes cannot assume and bear the uplift of their own proletariat, they are doomed for all time. It is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/if-the-leading-negro-classes-cannot-assume-and-bear-the-uplift-of/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [We cannot hope, then, in this generation, or for several generations, that the mass of the whites can be brought to assume that close…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/we-cannot-hope-then-in-this-generation-or-for-several-generations/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [I don't think that the objective of the American negro is white middle-class values because what are white middle-class values?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/i-don-t-think-that-the-objective-of-the-american-negro-is-white/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [The American Negro has been entirely brainwashed from ever seeing or thinking of himself, as he should, as a part of the non-white peoples…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/the-american-negro-has-been-entirely-brainwashed-from-ever-seeing-or/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-dangerous-to-be-an-american-negro-male-america-has-never-wanted/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The time has come to realize that the interracial drama acted out on the American continent has not only created a new black man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/the-time-has-come-to-realize-that-the-interracial-drama-acted-out-on/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [Its roots are in American Negro culture, which is part of the whole country's heritage, but the dance speaks to everyone... Otherwise, it wouldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/its-roots-are-in-american-negro-culture-which-is-part-of-the-whole/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/the-fact-that-the-adult-american-negro-female-emerges-a-formidable/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [I'm fully conscious all the time that I'm an American Negro, because it's part of my life. But I also know that if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amiri-baraka/i-m-fully-conscious-all-the-time-that-i-m-an-american-negro-because/) [Amiri Baraka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amiri-baraka/) > [“I cannot accept the proposition that the four-hundred-year travail of the American Negro should result merely in his attainment of the present level of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/i-cannot-accept-the-proposition-that-the-four-hundred-year-travail-of/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [“That was why so many Jews back then understood the American Negro; in Europe the Jew had been a Negro for more than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-mosley/that-was-why-so-many-jews-back-then-understood-the-american-negro-in/) [Walter Mosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-mosley/) > [Adam Clayton Powell's entire political career has to be looked at in the entire context of the American history and the history of, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/adam-clayton-powell-s-entire-political-career-has-to-be-looked-at-in/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) ## More by W. E. B. Du Bois > [So often do you see collegians enter life with high resolve and lofty purpose and then watch them shrink and shrink to sordid, selfish,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/so-often-do-you-see-collegians-enter-life-with-high-resolve-and-lofty/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [As a race, the Negroes are not lazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/as-a-race-the-negroes-are-not-lazy/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/if-there-is-anybody-in-this-land-who-thoroughly-believes-that-the/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools - intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/men-we-shall-have-only-as-we-make-manhood-the-object-of-the-work-of/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Had it not been for the race problem early thrust upon me and enveloping me, I should have probably been an unquestioning worshipper at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/had-it-not-been-for-the-race-problem-early-thrust-upon-me-and/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Before and after emancipation, the Negro, in self-defense, was propelled toward the white employer. The endowments of wealthy white men have developed great institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/before-and-after-emancipation-the-negro-in-self-defense-was-propelled/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [The use of slave women as day workers naturally broke up or made impossible the normal Negro home, and this and the slave code…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/the-use-of-slave-women-as-day-workers-naturally-broke-up-or-made/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Before the Civil War, the Negro was certainly as efficient a workman as the raw immigrant from Ireland or Germany. But, whereas the Irishmen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/before-the-civil-war-the-negro-was-certainly-as-efficient-a-workman/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [All art is propaganda, and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and say that whatever art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/all-art-is-propaganda-and-ever-must-be-despite-the-wailing-of-the/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [The ruling of men is the effort to direct the individual actions of many persons toward some end. This end theoretically should be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/the-ruling-of-men-is-the-effort-to-direct-the-individual-actions-of/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/education-is-that-whole-system-of-human-training-within-and-without/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [As Negro voting increased, Congress got an improved sense of hearing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/as-negro-voting-increased-congress-got-an-improved-sense-of-hearing/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [From the day of its birth, the anomaly of slavery plagued a nation which asserted the equality of all men, and sought to derive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/from-the-day-of-its-birth-the-anomaly-of-slavery-plagued-a-nation/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [It is the stars, it is the ancient stars, it is the young and everlasting stars!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/it-is-the-stars-it-is-the-ancient-stars-it-is-the-young-and/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/it-is-a-peculiar-sensation-this-double-consciousness-this-sense-of/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) [Explore all 177 W. E. B. Du Bois quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) ## More Arrested quotes > [Impulse arrested spills over, and the flood is feeling, the flood is passion, the flood is even madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/impulse-arrested-spills-over-and-the-flood-is-feeling-the-flood-is/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [On stage you're free. You can say and do things that if you said and did any place else, you'd be arrested.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-williams/on-stage-you-re-free-you-can-say-and-do-things-that-if-you-said-and/) [Robin Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-williams/) > [a TEN-YEAR-OLD lad in Indianapolis who was arrested for picking up coal along the side of railroad tracks is now in jail. If the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-jones/a-ten-year-old-lad-in-indianapolis-who-was-arrested-for-picking-up/) Mother Jones > [Fame is like a big eraser. It's strange, now that I'm famous. In my parents' opinion, all the shitty things - all the wreckage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobcat-goldthwait/fame-is-like-a-big-eraser-it-s-strange-now-that-i-m-famous-in-my/) [Bobcat Goldthwait](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobcat-goldthwait/) > [When men are arrested without any legal basis and for political reasons, it's merely a routine, everyday occurrence in Russia, and hardly anyone has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexei-navalny/when-men-are-arrested-without-any-legal-basis-and-for-political/) [Alexei Navalny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexei-navalny/) > [Helen Crawfurd and the Women's Peace Crusade, made a march on the City Chambers, distributing an illegal leaflet in front of police and even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-gallacher/helen-crawfurd-and-the-women-s-peace-crusade-made-a-march-on-the-city/) Willie Gallacher > [I just put myself in a hotel and was smoking coke for a while. Then I met up with the wrong people. I ended…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-wallice/i-just-put-myself-in-a-hotel-and-was-smoking-coke-for-a-while-then-i/) [Marc Wallice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-wallice/) > [My father was pretty independent. He was - he was arrested once in Nashville when he was on one of his sales trips because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nat-hentoff/my-father-was-pretty-independent-he-was-he-was-arrested-once-in/) [Nat Hentoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nat-hentoff/) > [I was arrested on graduation night for breaking and entering into the high school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-anderson/i-was-arrested-on-graduation-night-for-breaking-and-entering-into-the/) [Gillian Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-anderson/) > [On my recent trip to the Mexico border, Border Patrol agents in California told me they have arrested the same coyotes 20 times, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ric-keller/on-my-recent-trip-to-the-mexico-border-border-patrol-agents-in/) [Ric Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ric-keller/) > [You tell people that all the time, 'Jail's the worst place ever and you don't want to go there,' which is true but at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-glover/you-tell-people-that-all-the-time-jail-s-the-worst-place-ever-and-you/) [Stephen Glover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-glover/) > [“But Daddy, I never knew that's what you expected of me. I mean on the plus side, I've never been arrested or anything..”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-smith/but-daddy-i-never-knew-that-s-what-you-expected-of-me-i-mean-on-the/) [Andrea Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-smith/) > [There is the possibility to be suddenly arrested for hacking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandra-elbakyan/there-is-the-possibility-to-be-suddenly-arrested-for-hacking/) [Alexandra Elbakyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandra-elbakyan/) > [“I don’t do drugs, I’ve never been arrested, and from what I hear, I’m not too shabby in bed. Not that any of you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-peterfreund/i-don-t-do-drugs-i-ve-never-been-arrested-and-from-what-i-hear-i-m/) [Diana Peterfreund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-peterfreund/) > [ I'd been arrested many times by then. I'd been an organizer, so many things had changed over those three years \[from 1965 till 1968\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d-been-an-organizer-so-many/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) Browse all 480 Arrested quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "W. E. B. 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