“Because I’m black and they paid to beat on black asses. But, with a kid your size, they just might get into trouble. So they let us go. They knew you weren’t nothing but a kid. They knew it. But they didn’t care. All black people are shit to them. You remember that. You blackContinue reading “RKS Literature: White Police: Black Men (James Baldwin)”
Category Archives: literature
RKS Literature: Eyes Upon Me (James Baldwin)
“These were the eyes of children stronger than me, who would steal my movie money; these eyes were the eyes of white cops, whom I feared, whom I hated with a literally murderous hatred; these eyes were the eyes of old folks who thought I was a sissy and who might wonder why I wasContinue reading “RKS Literature: Eyes Upon Me (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: The Younger Brother (James Baldwin)
“I think it may be easier to love the really helpless younger brother because he cannot enter into competition with one on one’s own ground, or on any ground at all, and can never question one’s role, or jeopardize one’s authority. In my own case, certainly, it did not occur to me until much later-toContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Younger Brother (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: Your White Skin is the Problem (Andrea Levy)
“You know what your trouble is man?’ he said. ‘Your white skin. You think it makes you better than me. You think it give you the right to lord over a black man. But you know what it make you, man? It make you white. That is all, man. White. No better or worse thanContinue reading “RKS Literature: Your White Skin is the Problem (Andrea Levy)”
RKS Literature: A Venereal Gift From Calcutta (Andrea Levy)
“In the light of day, locked behind a toilet door, the enormous throbbing sore had produced a hat of pus. I felt it pop like a grape in my pants as I sat down to another meal of potato and sausage. It was ringed with a blue line clear as if drawn with a pencil.Continue reading “RKS Literature: A Venereal Gift From Calcutta (Andrea Levy)”
RKS Literature: Syphilis WWII Style?
“The medical officer, on the boat when we first came out east, had warned us RAF recruits. Ulcers, inflammations, colourful discharge, swellings. All the result of sexual relations with the wrong type. He’d given us lectures. Colourful pictures were passed around. Lurid photographs. Quite shocking. Parts of the body unrecognizable as human. Turned some ofContinue reading “RKS Literature: Syphilis WWII Style?”
RKS Literature: Loving the Helpless Younger Brother (James Baldwin)
“I think it may be easier to love the really helpless younger brother because he cannot enter into competition with one’s own ground, or on any ground at all, and can never question one’s role, or jeopardize one’s authority. In my own case, certainly, it did not occur to me until much later-to compete withContinue reading “RKS Literature: Loving the Helpless Younger Brother (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: England Needed to Keep the Rioting Muslims and Hindus Under Control! (Andrea Levy)
“Thousands were killed in Calcutta. Men, women, children, even suckling babies. They called it a riot. Those of us who’d been in the thick of things with these bloodthirsty little men knew it was more than that. Muslims butchering Hindus. Hindus butchering Muslims. And who knows whose side the Sikhs were on? Rumour said theContinue reading “RKS Literature: England Needed to Keep the Rioting Muslims and Hindus Under Control! (Andrea Levy)”
RKS Literature: Sex and a Gas Mask (Andrea Levy)
“All that lily-of-the-valley scent. Hours spent waving my hair and powdering my face to porcelain perfection. Silk stockings, red lips and hands as soft as lah-di-lah. And I was married to a man who wouldn’t have noticed if I’d come to bed in my gas mask. If I could have asked Aunt Dorothy, “Is thatContinue reading “RKS Literature: Sex and a Gas Mask (Andrea Levy)”
RKS Literature: Frightened to Get in the Family Way! (Andrea Levy)
“All those warnings of things that could leave me in the family way. I’d been scared simple from the time my breasts first poked up in my jumper. Kissing at the garden gate, canoodling at the pictures. If he stuck his tongue in your mouth that was definitely a baby. If he touched your breast,Continue reading “RKS Literature: Frightened to Get in the Family Way! (Andrea Levy)”
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