"The Federal Government is an Accomplice to this Fact."
James Baldwin interviewed by Kenneth Clark. The interview took place in 1963 immediately following a meeting of Baldwin and U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy. For more, go to [ Ссылка ]
For more on the connection between the U.S. government's policies on highways and urban renewal see this: [ Ссылка ]
My favorite Baldwin quotes:
“The role of the artist, then, precisely, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through the vast forest so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”
“Ultimately, the artist and the revolutionary function as they function, and pay whatever dues they must pay behind it because they are both possessed by a vision, and they do not so much follow this vision as find themselves driven by it. Otherwise, they could never endure, much less embrace, the lives they are compelled to lead. And I think we need each other, and have much to learn from each other, and, more than ever, now."
"Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel. The wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity, the mask of cruelty."
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
