James Baldwin with some thoughts on America

[G_j]

James Baldwin with some thoughts on America

“Well, if one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected—those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most!—and listens to their testimony. Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any black man, any poor person—ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know, not whether or not the country is just, but whether or not it has any love for justice, or any concept of it. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” —from No Name in the Street (1972)

[c-rational]

1. I recently finished "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin. He should be required reading for

all high school students. A tremendously powerful writer.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[G_j]

3. Thomas Paine, 1792

"When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example of the poor to plunder the rich of his property, for the rights of the one are as much property to him as wealth is property to the other and the little all is as dear as the much. It is only by setting out on just principles that men are trained to be just to each other; and it will always be found, that when the rich protect the rights of the poor, the poor will protect the property of the rich. But the guarantee, to be effectual, must be parliamentarily reciprocal."

—Thomas Paine, 1792 #ArrestTheMurderers

[Buckeyeblue]

4. I used to teach Baldwin in Freshman Composition classes

Many middle class whites took offense. Each student's response told a great deal about them.