"I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive."

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Jack Stephens

Cross-posted from Double Consciousness.


Time Wise, on his Facebook posted this video of James Baldwin. In his post he stated:

This is an amazing clip of Baldwin, discussing Malcolm and Martin, but especially the last two minutes, in which he poses the ultimate challenge to white America.

I don’t necessarily agree with his views on the Black Muslim movement but he was speaking from a different time and a different generation. His answers are just (as the video poster states) lucid and so well thought out; his brilliance just shines through.

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3 Responses to "I can't be a pessimist, because I am alive."

  1. marmalade says:
    November 2, 2008 at 2:14 am

    especially the last two minutes, in which he poses the ultimate challenge to white America

    We’ll get a better sense on Tuesday if white America has the capacity to see a black man as a man.

  2. FurryCatHerder says:
    November 2, 2008 at 6:45 am

    I’m so glad to video from that era has been preserved.

    In reponse to Marmalade’s comment, I don’t think it is an accident that Obama is about the right age — that the generation of whites who can see a black man as a man is of Obama’s generation.

  3. Radfem says:
    November 2, 2008 at 11:07 am

    We’ll get a better sense on Tuesday if white America has the capacity to see a black man as a man.

    I agree.

Comments are closed.