Saved

I'm still reading James Baldwin's The Cross of Redemption, and while I think there's a good reason many of these pieces remained uncollected so long -- they're just not his best work -- they still make interesting reading. Take "To Crush a Serpent," published in 1987, the year Baldwin died. It's partly autobiographical, telling of Baldwin's brief career as an adolescent preacher and how it

Saved

I'm still reading James Baldwin's The Cross of Redemption, and while I think there's a good reason many of these pieces remained uncollected so long -- they're just not his best work -- they still make interesting reading. Take "To Crush a Serpent," published in 1987, the year Baldwin died. It's partly autobiographical, telling of Baldwin's brief career as an adolescent preacher and how it

What Speaking Truth to Power Looks Like

I'm feeling better, though still kinda crummy, so I've been reading more of this posthumous collection of James Baldwin's prose, The Cross of Redemption. Today I read Baldwin's 1979 remembrance "Lorraine Hansberry at the Summit", which in addition to paying tribute to Hansberry, is an account of a May 1963 meeting between then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy several African-American activists

What Speaking Truth to Power Looks Like

I'm feeling better, though still kinda crummy, so I've been reading more of this posthumous collection of James Baldwin's prose, The Cross of Redemption. Today I read Baldwin's 1979 remembrance "Lorraine Hansberry at the Summit", which in addition to paying tribute to Hansberry, is an account of a May 1963 meeting between then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy several African-American activists

The Straight Problem

But what is really much worse is the system of lies, evasions, and naked oppression designed to pretend this isn't so. It is one thing to trample a kid half to death or to death -- that is bad enough -- but it is quite another thing to then be told by the agents of that oppression, "Be patient; we will do better tomorrow." The question will cross your mind just for a moment: "You will do what

The Straight Problem

But what is really much worse is the system of lies, evasions, and naked oppression designed to pretend this isn't so. It is one thing to trample a kid half to death or to death -- that is bad enough -- but it is quite another thing to then be told by the agents of that oppression, "Be patient; we will do better tomorrow." The question will cross your mind just for a moment: "You will do what