I admire James Baldwin because he looked the world right in the eye and spoke the truth to all people, and in a way everyone understood. He did not cowar from the truth or intellectual rigor as some people do; because for many, thinking is worse than hard labor at a Siberian prison, and speaking to be understood is frivolous. Speaking truth to power never happens because they do a cost/benefit analysis before they speak.
Some people believe that the gifts of speech and discernment are solely to hear one’s own thoughts, to relish in the sound of one’s own voice. Not to understand, not to be understood. But where does that get us?
James Baldwin was fully himself and fully present without pretense or sham. There was nothing fake about him. I admire people like that. #jamesbaldwin
