with the observation that white is an attitude. Does he mean that everyone has to be judged as an individual and not lumped together in a group by skin color because color does not indicate attitude?

Yes. I agree with Baldwin to a great extent.

Many is the time I complained about white people and somebody says: 'but you're white'. They don't understand the word as Baldwin does.

the color line's STRENGTH is in its constructedness--it can openly flaunt that it's arbitrary and still keep people trying to get in by pushing others out: Irish and Italians can enter (and it can always be taken back, and often requires punching downwards), the interracial are pushed out, and other groups are tempted to climb by "whitening" and by rejecting aspects of culture labeled "nonwhite" (Cosby, anyone?)

Last edited Mon Aug 10, 2015, 03:54 PM - Edit history (1)

James Baldwin is brilliant. I hope we can continue to talk as people to solve the problems we have, and have had for hundreds of years.

His comment about blacks being wary of white liberals was enlightening. He said white liberals reminded him of white missionaries, there to "help" the black man. As a white liberal this has given me pause for thought. The world is always more complicated than it seems.

That nearly brought me to tears.