One of the things that I found very interesting in "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" is when he witnesses a black man being burned alive. After he sees how terrible and cruel white people can be, he questions being a part of the white race but it also leads him to reconsider identifying with the black race. Watching this happen he loses his sense of identity to both races and becomes lost between the two. He is ashamed to be white because he does not understand how a group of people can possibly find entertainment in brutally killing another human being. But he also feels ashamed that he is a part of a race that gets treaty so badly, I don't think he is ashamed of being black but he is more afraid of the treatment that blacks experience. His fear is what leads him to choosing to pass as white for the rest of his life. He realizes that unlike a lot other blacks he has the choice and opportunity to be treated and live the life of a white man, which he knows would get him farther in life. Part of me feels like he sold out by choosing to pass as white, and not finding pride in being black. It made me think of Dubois' idea that blacks should lift themselves up and be proud that they are black. But I can also understand that he wants to pass as white in order to live a possibly better life, which he ends up doing.