I am teaching my James Baldwin seminar this semester, and this week we are reading selections of his writings from Randall Kenan’s edited volume, The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings. I love this book. The fugitive short pieces give the reader a sense of Baldwin’s capacious mind, the arc of his thinking across time, and the power not only of his prose writing, but of his speeches. The cadence and rhythm of a young preacher jump off the page. And I shout and write, “Yes!”
There is so much truth in this article that it makes my entire being anguish at what we white people have insisted on doing to anyone who is not white.
Yes there is truth in this article. But I wouldn't say “we” as in ALL white people have not recognized & haven't faught against what is known as “whiteness”. Thats not true. For some reason those that have faught through out history are never spoken about even though it is also part of our history. However, it is up to white people that do know the truth, continue speaking & educating, & demand others to wake up! IMO it's way past time for reparations too! Until the sins of our country are acknowledged, ALL sins, we won't get better.
Those rich white men have always had control over everyone! Our country was intentionality keeping people apart from the beginning because they (rich white men with power) new if we joined together, they would lose control. A SC professor & historian speaks about this. Dr. Bishop Barber from NC also speaks about this. From the beginning, poor white servants in the south were used to pay off debt they claimed. When the masters noted the white servants & black slaves friendly with eachother is the beginning of the intentional separation, lies & racism. The pointing to the other to fear & blame. The manipulation that still existsts. It's infuriating & horrific. Learning history is a necessity! ALL of it! Our country is falling & maybe it needed to, in order for people to actually see what has led to this. We can rebuild it TOGETHER, with everyone having a say. Not controlled by power & white oligarchs. We have a beautiful mosaic of people, different cultures, artists, foods, faiths, etc. We can learn so much from eachother if we listen. The pains of the past & present must be recognized, acknowledged & corrected though. Hold on to eachother, love eachother, listen to eachother, protect eachother. We can rebuild together ❤️
I loved Randall Kenan, I got to have a few discussions with him when he came to The Ackland Art Museum’s book club. It brook my heart when he died during COVID 😢💙
MT 25:31-45 says how we are to treat people. Welcome the stranger, feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, take care of the sick, give drink to the thirsty
Just remember, they go by many names: MAGA, fundamentalist/evangelical, Dominionist, ‘Christian’/religious Nationalists, an alternative Catholic, which Pope Leo has rebuked Vance on, etc. As my caveat, only Jesus knows our hearts. I follow the teachings of Jesus and beg forgiveness when I fall short. Matthew 22:37–40 (NKJV) "Jesus said to him,'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Unlike, the organizations above, Jesus was not an elite white supremicist. He was a brown man. We are Christians. Nothing need be added.
Just magnificent writing- both Jimmy and Eddie- as always. Sadly, America is a myth founded on 'Greatness' based on a lie.Are all men(and women), Men? Are they created equal or are there exceptions to that? Are some more men( and women) than others?Are some more human than others? And whom, may I ask, is making this judgement?
Donald T**** is what you get after living a lie based on greed and white dominance for 250 years.These 'values' are what the majority of Americans have worshipped in their churches, synagogues, legislatures and courts. Now you have your King.
Never good to start any endeavor with 'a little white lie.' It always catches up to you.
Let's build on the best of what humans have in their souls- not glorify the worst of it. We are- we can be-better than what we have been.
What Dr Eddie S. Glaude Jr. offers here is both powerful and true to James Baldwin: a clear reckoning with the lie at the heart of the American project and the danger of denying what one does. For that clarity, and for the force of the writing, I am grateful. If anything, the essay invites a further step. The lie Baldwin names does not operate only at the level of moral psychology, as obedience to illusion, but is sustained through the material structure of the world it helped create. What made it durable was its embodiment in the colonial order. In that sense, what I call the colonial present names the persistence of this founding arrangement into modern democracy. This is not only American. From Ancient Greece onward, Western democracy has been constituted through exclusion, defining freedom for some through the unfreedom of others. Here Giorgio Agamben clarifies the stakes: the Black body appears as homo sacer, life exposed to violence without recognition, not as accident but as necessity. It is this condition that allows democracy to sustain its image of freedom while disavowing the structure that makes it possible
Sometimes societies use sanctioning lies, myths and conspiracies to convey strength, righteousness, and confer justification. This deliberate obfuscation of truth, often presages the application of venality as a justifying cover.
Yet, inevitability will blow its cover…as the truth comes to light.
“A lie told once is easy to expose, but a lie told a thousand times can look like the truth. And destroy the world.”
Any society, riddled with lies, myths, and conspiracies will cease to have the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Between what is right and just, and wrong or immoral.
Thank you for another brilliant and heartbreaking piece, Dr. Glaude. That lie seems so intractable to me, so entrenched by the untouchables. We can’t be at the end, can we? I am trying to shake that feeling by researching my mother’s family who didn’t back down despite the risk and despite the probability of failure. I just finished rereading one of the books that have been collected and carted around for a couple of generations, “Thirteen Days” by Jeannette Marks, in which she writes about the thirteen days covering the appeals and postponement of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927 Boston. The judge in the trial didn’t bother to hide his disgust at the others - the subhuman and dangerous immigrants - whose indefensible lives were in his hands. Marks writes, “…on the evening of August 25th some eight thousand people were gathered before the doors of Langone’s waiting to go in to look upon the faces of the Italian martyrs. Very shortly after the doors opened, Mary Donovan, nerves at the breaking point after the long years of Defense work and those thirteen days of postponement and preparation for the execution, as some news and cameraman were about to take pictures of Sacco and Vanzetti, took her stand at the head of the coffins, in her hand a placard two and a half feet long and two feet wide. On it were Judge Webster Thayer’s words spoken while petitions for a new trial were still to be argued in front of him: “DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID TO THOSE ANARCHISTIC BASTARDS?” I know this story well; my grandmother, beaten, arrested, and threatened to be hung on the Boston Commons, is Mary Donovan Hapgood. At that time, Boston was controlled by the “Blue Menace” who were in charge of stopping the “Red Menace.” Marks describes The Blue Menace who made good use of its “three arms of power, the secret service, hired police, and signed and unsigned propaganda.” They continued to tell the lie that these anarchists were not human and they and their ilk deserved everything that they got. We see it here every day. There are always lies to cover up the Government’s corruption, failure, fear, and greed. Marks observes, “It was plain to see that those in power did not hold their authority in what has been called “the consent of the governed.” She goes on to say, “…during those thirteen days of indecision, many generous minds grieved because they thought men’s hearts were dead. Whether these minds were liberal or conservative or radical, they were alike in seeing that in this crisis of injustice the selfishness of class warfare and social ignorance were ascendant.” She quotes James O’Neal, “The old faiths, old views, old war cries that once served mankind no longer serve. They harden into prejudice and become the handmaids of reaction and despotism. They become embedded in to law, are sanctioned by courts, and become fetters on human progress.”
Here is what Baldwin wrote, and you held up with the most sincere and clear-eyed , terrible and generous passion:
"But the price of that secret, the price of his lies, entails a corruption of the soul. That is the sinister matter. Repeatedly denying what one does, what one has done, makes you monstrous: it is the loss of all human feeling – you can do anything to anybody at any time, and not give a damn"
The 'devil" is the father of lies, and it is lies that, taken to heart, distort everything, most especially the upholder of them. We whites, especially those 'privileged' by wealth, have long believed lies rather than face the inconvenient truth that we've rationalized murder, rape, oppression, theft and cruelty festering within our psyches. We owe so much debt to people of color, to women, to immigrants from non-western European immigrants. The best thing any teacher can do is to expose his students to the clear history of our truw story.
So we will then own our sins and make reparations.
As usual, your piece today is so timely and so much appreciated! My group has lately been watching and listening to James Baldwin and his gentle, direct messages that continue to broaden and clarify what many white people need to know. Thank you!
Amen and ase to all that you have written. Sadly, far too many people who "think themselves white" and far too many people who think that they can purchase or acquiesce themselves into being white are willing to ignore the crimes upon which whiteness is built for what they perceive as the safety and profits of whiteness. As such, they willingly live by what Baldwin called "selective naivete." Thus, I wonder if data (the empirical) can ever overcome dogma (the ideological). And, though I'm not optimistic that data can overcome dogma, I appreciate folks like you who refuse to relinquish the "blood-stained banner" of our liberation struggle.
There is so much truth in this article that it makes my entire being anguish at what we white people have insisted on doing to anyone who is not white.
Yes there is truth in this article. But I wouldn't say “we” as in ALL white people have not recognized & haven't faught against what is known as “whiteness”. Thats not true. For some reason those that have faught through out history are never spoken about even though it is also part of our history. However, it is up to white people that do know the truth, continue speaking & educating, & demand others to wake up! IMO it's way past time for reparations too! Until the sins of our country are acknowledged, ALL sins, we won't get better.
Those rich white men have always had control over everyone! Our country was intentionality keeping people apart from the beginning because they (rich white men with power) new if we joined together, they would lose control. A SC professor & historian speaks about this. Dr. Bishop Barber from NC also speaks about this. From the beginning, poor white servants in the south were used to pay off debt they claimed. When the masters noted the white servants & black slaves friendly with eachother is the beginning of the intentional separation, lies & racism. The pointing to the other to fear & blame. The manipulation that still existsts. It's infuriating & horrific. Learning history is a necessity! ALL of it! Our country is falling & maybe it needed to, in order for people to actually see what has led to this. We can rebuild it TOGETHER, with everyone having a say. Not controlled by power & white oligarchs. We have a beautiful mosaic of people, different cultures, artists, foods, faiths, etc. We can learn so much from eachother if we listen. The pains of the past & present must be recognized, acknowledged & corrected though. Hold on to eachother, love eachother, listen to eachother, protect eachother. We can rebuild together ❤️
I loved Randall Kenan, I got to have a few discussions with him when he came to The Ackland Art Museum’s book club. It brook my heart when he died during COVID 😢💙
I feel the anguish too
Including Native Americans. It makes me sick.
Amen.
A lot of Bible thumping White Nationalists never read John….
MT 25:31-45 says how we are to treat people. Welcome the stranger, feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, take care of the sick, give drink to the thirsty
And John says when judge, judge wisely.......and yet Christians were instrumental in electing Trump
Just remember, they go by many names: MAGA, fundamentalist/evangelical, Dominionist, ‘Christian’/religious Nationalists, an alternative Catholic, which Pope Leo has rebuked Vance on, etc. As my caveat, only Jesus knows our hearts. I follow the teachings of Jesus and beg forgiveness when I fall short. Matthew 22:37–40 (NKJV) "Jesus said to him,'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Unlike, the organizations above, Jesus was not an elite white supremicist. He was a brown man. We are Christians. Nothing need be added.
Why do you think that is?
It could be all the money the GOP spent over the last 50 years convincing people that Christian values are the same as GOP values.
And The Democrats certainly helped them do it with their secular humanist policies.
Not sure they know the difference between the Old and New Testaments.
Well, bot are Scripture...but context matters
Just magnificent writing- both Jimmy and Eddie- as always. Sadly, America is a myth founded on 'Greatness' based on a lie.Are all men(and women), Men? Are they created equal or are there exceptions to that? Are some more men( and women) than others?Are some more human than others? And whom, may I ask, is making this judgement?
Donald T**** is what you get after living a lie based on greed and white dominance for 250 years.These 'values' are what the majority of Americans have worshipped in their churches, synagogues, legislatures and courts. Now you have your King.
Never good to start any endeavor with 'a little white lie.' It always catches up to you.
Let's build on the best of what humans have in their souls- not glorify the worst of it. We are- we can be-better than what we have been.
What Dr Eddie S. Glaude Jr. offers here is both powerful and true to James Baldwin: a clear reckoning with the lie at the heart of the American project and the danger of denying what one does. For that clarity, and for the force of the writing, I am grateful. If anything, the essay invites a further step. The lie Baldwin names does not operate only at the level of moral psychology, as obedience to illusion, but is sustained through the material structure of the world it helped create. What made it durable was its embodiment in the colonial order. In that sense, what I call the colonial present names the persistence of this founding arrangement into modern democracy. This is not only American. From Ancient Greece onward, Western democracy has been constituted through exclusion, defining freedom for some through the unfreedom of others. Here Giorgio Agamben clarifies the stakes: the Black body appears as homo sacer, life exposed to violence without recognition, not as accident but as necessity. It is this condition that allows democracy to sustain its image of freedom while disavowing the structure that makes it possible
James Baldwin should (1) be read in all American schools and (2) included in every list of classic authors.
Lies, Myths, and Conspiracies
Sometimes societies use sanctioning lies, myths and conspiracies to convey strength, righteousness, and confer justification. This deliberate obfuscation of truth, often presages the application of venality as a justifying cover.
Yet, inevitability will blow its cover…as the truth comes to light.
“A lie told once is easy to expose, but a lie told a thousand times can look like the truth. And destroy the world.”
Any society, riddled with lies, myths, and conspiracies will cease to have the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Between what is right and just, and wrong or immoral.
“Woe to us for the destruction lies will bring.”
Thank you for another brilliant and heartbreaking piece, Dr. Glaude. That lie seems so intractable to me, so entrenched by the untouchables. We can’t be at the end, can we? I am trying to shake that feeling by researching my mother’s family who didn’t back down despite the risk and despite the probability of failure. I just finished rereading one of the books that have been collected and carted around for a couple of generations, “Thirteen Days” by Jeannette Marks, in which she writes about the thirteen days covering the appeals and postponement of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927 Boston. The judge in the trial didn’t bother to hide his disgust at the others - the subhuman and dangerous immigrants - whose indefensible lives were in his hands. Marks writes, “…on the evening of August 25th some eight thousand people were gathered before the doors of Langone’s waiting to go in to look upon the faces of the Italian martyrs. Very shortly after the doors opened, Mary Donovan, nerves at the breaking point after the long years of Defense work and those thirteen days of postponement and preparation for the execution, as some news and cameraman were about to take pictures of Sacco and Vanzetti, took her stand at the head of the coffins, in her hand a placard two and a half feet long and two feet wide. On it were Judge Webster Thayer’s words spoken while petitions for a new trial were still to be argued in front of him: “DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID TO THOSE ANARCHISTIC BASTARDS?” I know this story well; my grandmother, beaten, arrested, and threatened to be hung on the Boston Commons, is Mary Donovan Hapgood. At that time, Boston was controlled by the “Blue Menace” who were in charge of stopping the “Red Menace.” Marks describes The Blue Menace who made good use of its “three arms of power, the secret service, hired police, and signed and unsigned propaganda.” They continued to tell the lie that these anarchists were not human and they and their ilk deserved everything that they got. We see it here every day. There are always lies to cover up the Government’s corruption, failure, fear, and greed. Marks observes, “It was plain to see that those in power did not hold their authority in what has been called “the consent of the governed.” She goes on to say, “…during those thirteen days of indecision, many generous minds grieved because they thought men’s hearts were dead. Whether these minds were liberal or conservative or radical, they were alike in seeing that in this crisis of injustice the selfishness of class warfare and social ignorance were ascendant.” She quotes James O’Neal, “The old faiths, old views, old war cries that once served mankind no longer serve. They harden into prejudice and become the handmaids of reaction and despotism. They become embedded in to law, are sanctioned by courts, and become fetters on human progress.”
Here is what Baldwin wrote, and you held up with the most sincere and clear-eyed , terrible and generous passion:
"But the price of that secret, the price of his lies, entails a corruption of the soul. That is the sinister matter. Repeatedly denying what one does, what one has done, makes you monstrous: it is the loss of all human feeling – you can do anything to anybody at any time, and not give a damn"
The 'devil" is the father of lies, and it is lies that, taken to heart, distort everything, most especially the upholder of them. We whites, especially those 'privileged' by wealth, have long believed lies rather than face the inconvenient truth that we've rationalized murder, rape, oppression, theft and cruelty festering within our psyches. We owe so much debt to people of color, to women, to immigrants from non-western European immigrants. The best thing any teacher can do is to expose his students to the clear history of our truw story.
So we will then own our sins and make reparations.
As usual, your piece today is so timely and so much appreciated! My group has lately been watching and listening to James Baldwin and his gentle, direct messages that continue to broaden and clarify what many white people need to know. Thank you!
So good! James would be proud of you!
Love listening to you on all the sets Eddie…I’d love to listen to your lectures ..I bet your an incredible teacher Eddie ..Thanks for what you do :)
You break my heart which opens me. You enlighten me. You inspire me. You are such a great writer like James Baldwin.
Amen and ase to all that you have written. Sadly, far too many people who "think themselves white" and far too many people who think that they can purchase or acquiesce themselves into being white are willing to ignore the crimes upon which whiteness is built for what they perceive as the safety and profits of whiteness. As such, they willingly live by what Baldwin called "selective naivete." Thus, I wonder if data (the empirical) can ever overcome dogma (the ideological). And, though I'm not optimistic that data can overcome dogma, I appreciate folks like you who refuse to relinquish the "blood-stained banner" of our liberation struggle.
I strongly recommend to everyone, make an effort to establish meaningful relationships with people who don’t look like you.
I wish I could be a student and attend your seminar. Thank You.
Thank you for sharing James Baldwin with your students. His work is beloved by many.