He predicted the kind of race hustlers and demagogues that would exist today in a post-civil rights America - back in 1911. He wrote in his book My Larger Education of these "problem profiteers":
"There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs - partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."That's a perfect description of the kind of identity politics we see from the Left today - or just a few days ago, to be more specific. Take the example of the Congressional Black Caucus, which reacted with this kind of enthusiasm to the news that black unemployment is at the lowest level in recorded history:
Comment: Words of wisdom coming from freed slave who experienced discrimination on a scale that would be hard to comprehend these days.