This is from “No Name in the Street” (1972) by James Baldwin. It seems as true to me now as the day when I first read it years ago:
White children, in the main, and whether they are rich or poor, grow up with a grasp of reality so feeble that they can very accurately be described as deluded – about themselves and about the world they live in. White people have managed to get through entire lifetimes in this euphoric state, but black people have not been so lucky: a black man who sees the world the way John Wayne, for example, sees it would not be an eccentric patriot, but a raving maniac. … People who cling to their delusions find it difficult, if not impossible, to learn anything worth learning: a people under the necessity of creating themselves must examine everything, and soak up learning the way the roots of a tree soak up water. As people still held in bondage must believe that “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make ye free”.
See also:
James Baldwin was one man who tell it like it is whether people want to listen or not.
I admire him for his candor and honesty about the state of American affairs, especially racial matters.
RIP, James Baldwin
Stephanie B.
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That is true and their world is crashing around them, the system of buying and selling is falling around a lot of people’s ears. I have come to realise that UK, where I live is in a very very very bad state.
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I like his writing, but more than that I like how he told the truth and did not play along with what people wanted to believe.
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W_O_R_D!
: ))
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I am reading “Another Country” right now and, as a white man, I feel that Baldwin has a pretty accurate view of the misconceptions that both races espouse behind close doors about one another. He is a beautiful, insightful writer and I am glad that I bought this book while walking on Astor Place one hot afternoon last month . . .
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I’m a young lady who chose this wonderful man to do on mi blavk history project. I choose him because of his lovley bookes and quotes. I love this man and all his accomplishments
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“It is certain,in any case,that ignorance,allied with power,is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.—James Baldwin
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