Du Bois tartly observed that “the world is astonished, aghast, and angry! But why? . . . England has been seizing land all over the earth for centuries with and without a shadow of rightful claim: India, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, Nigeria, not to mention Ireland. The United States seized Mexico from a weak and helpless nation in order to bolster slavery. . . . This is the world that has grown suddenly righteous in defense of Finland.”21 Why, he asked, should not he and other African Americans believe that the war, at least in part, was a campaign to deepen white control?
