All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can

Hear, O children of tomorrow, the radiant words of Josephine Baker, a woman who crossed boundaries of race, nation, and art: “All my life, I have maintained that the people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.” In these words is a truth as old as humanity itself, yet ever ignored—that hatred is not born in the heart but planted there, and that if we cease to sow the seeds of division, the harvest of the future will be peace.

The origin of this wisdom lies in Baker’s own life. Born into poverty and discrimination in America, she knew firsthand the crushing weight of prejudice. Yet she refused to be defined by it. She rose as a dancer, singer, and actress, beloved in France and across Europe, and used her fame not for vanity but for justice. She sheltered Jews during the Second World War, stood with Martin Luther King Jr. in the March on Washington, and adopted twelve children of different ethnicities—her “Rainbow Tribe”—to prove to the world that love could triumph over hatred. Her life itself was a living parable of her words: that division is taught, but so too can peace be taught.

The ancients bore witness to this truth. Aristotle himself wrote that none are born just or unjust, but become so through habit and upbringing. The Scriptures teach that the child’s heart is like clay, shaped by the hands of elders. And in every culture, sages have proclaimed: hatred is not destiny but instruction, not nature but nurture. Baker’s words echo this eternal wisdom: if we strip away the teaching of prejudice, what remains is the natural human yearning for companionship, love, and peace.

History gives us bitter proof. Consider the Rwandan genocide. Neighbors who had lived together for generations were turned into enemies by years of propaganda and poisoned education. Children were raised to despise those who were once their playmates, and in time, they grew to kill them. But after the violence, reconciliation efforts showed that when hate-filled teaching was abandoned, new generations could be raised in peace, and former enemies could live together again. This dark chapter proves Baker’s truth: prejudice, when taught, destroys; but when rejected, peace is possible.

Her words also call us to courage. For it is not enough to admire the dream of peace; one must confront the teaching of prejudice wherever it hides—at the hearth, in schools, in laws, in whispers between neighbors. To bring up a child without prejudice is to strike at the root of war. For armies march not only on orders, but on beliefs planted in them since childhood. If those beliefs are of equality and kinship, then wars wither before they begin.

The lesson is clear: peace is not merely a treaty between nations but a seed planted in the hearts of children. If we wish for a world without hate, we must begin with how we raise the next generation. Do not teach them suspicion; do not pass down the poison of old divisions. Instead, nurture them in compassion, in curiosity, in respect for those who are different. In this way, the chains of prejudice can be broken, and the cycle of violence undone.

Practical wisdom flows from this. Examine your own words and actions before the young. Do they see in you fear of difference, or do they see respect? Teach them to cherish diversity, to find joy in learning from others, to judge not by skin, language, or creed, but by character. Create in your home, your school, your community a soil where the seeds of love grow stronger than the weeds of prejudice. For in these daily choices lies the future of peace.

So remember the voice of Josephine Baker: “The people of the world can learn to live together in peace if they are not brought up in prejudice.” Let this be your inheritance to those who come after you. For prejudice is a learned sickness, but peace is the natural state of the human heart. Teach peace, live peace, and you will give to the world a gift greater than riches—the chance for all nations, all peoples, to live as one family beneath the sky.