To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, "Cast down your bucket where you
are." Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested
in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people
who have, without strikes and labour wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and
brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, and helped make possible this magnificent representation of the
progress of the South.

According to this excerpt, what was Booker T. Washington trying to promote?

A) He wanted African Americans to move to the North to escape the injustices of the South.

B) He wanted whites to hire African Americans instead of immigrants.

C) He wanted former slave owners to compensate their former slaves.

D) He wanted racial equality for African Americans.