Kind of a response to Elizabeth’s post, then some of my own ideas, might not be clear, not really as long as it looks (lots of quotes)

Based on what BTW said right before that quote. “In my early life I used to cherish a feeling of ill will toward any one who spoke in bitter terms against the negro, or who advocated measures that tended to oppress the black man or take from him opportunities for growth in the most complete manner. Now, whenever I hear anyone advocating measures that are meant to curtail the development of another, I pity the individual who would do this.” I feel as though BTW was criticizing the whites who put down the hard working black man for trying to succeed. He never wanted African Americans to sell themselves short, in fact it was the opposite. For example on page 135, BTW talks about his school and how blacks that could not afford it worked intense hours to pay off their debts to gain an education. “Any one who is willing to work ten hours a day at the brick-yard, or in the laundry, through one or two years, in order that he or she may have the privilege of studying academic branches for two hours in the evening, has enough bottom to warrant being further educated.” How is that selling a student short, this seems like he’s trying to get the most out of the student. If you work that hard to gain an education you are going to be successful academically and value education deeply. Casting down their bucket is just saying to work as hard as you can and get all the potential out of yourself.
Also I do think BTW knew the audience, mostly white. And instead of just dissing them he wanted to make them feel a little involved with the change. “I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done”(p.137). So in his quote about how he doesn’t show anger with whites putting down blacks trying to succeed he just “pity’s” them he is showing how whites shouldn’t feel evil to themselves. Simultaneously though he’s cleverly putting those whites under him in society. One of a higher class shows pity.