Isabel Wilkerson Instagram – “This is the charged, the dangerous moment, when everything must be re-examined, must be made new, when nothing at all can be taken for granted.”
James Baldwin wrote those words (Slide #2) in 1980. They could have been written today. The revered novelist, essayist, social critic and prophet was born on this day, August 2, 1924, in New York City, and passed away on December 1, 1987, in France, where he frequently sought refuge. He spent his life calling upon his country of birth to live up to its ideals.
I felt so empowered by him, as I researched the stark truths of our country’s history and hierarchy, that I chose this quote of his as the epigraph to Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents:
“Because even if I should speak, no one would believe me. And no one would believe me precisely because they would know that what I said was true.”
Here are more words from Baldwin that are as relevant today as when he wrote them:
— “Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
— “Guilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford. I know you didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it either, but I am responsible for it because I am a man and a citizen of this country and you are responsible for it, too, for the very same reason… Anyone who is trying to be conscious must begin to dismiss the vocabulary which we’ve used so long to cover it up, to lie about the way things are.”
— “We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope.”
#castetheoriginsofourdiscontents #JamesBaldwin #caste | Posted on 03/Aug/2023 01:20:28
