“You are literally, then, one amongst countless millions. You are news. Whatever you do is news. But it does not take long to realize, at least assuming that one wishes to live, that to be news is really to be nothing; that the attention paid to one’s vicissitudes is merely the most cunning way yetContinue reading “RKS Literature: American Media’s Obsession with the Cult of Personality”
Category Archives: literature
RKS Literature: The Happy and Prancing Negroes! (James Baldwin)
“I saw with a particular shock, the root of the despicable and tenacious American folklore concerning the happy, prancing niggers. Some of the people were moving, indeed, and the jukebox was loud; their movements followed the music which their movements had produced; but prancing scarcely described the use of their vigor. Only someone who noContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Happy and Prancing Negroes! (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: Not Realizing I Was Colored (James Baldwin)
“They disliked Jerry because he was Italian, they disliked Barbara because she was not, and therefore, had no excuse, and they disliked me because I did not appear to realize both Barbara and Jerry were white. I did not, in fact, appear to know that I was colored and this filled them with such balefulContinue reading “RKS Literature: Not Realizing I Was Colored (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: Searching for the Daylight in Harlem (James Baldwin)
“We were cold and frightened, and we were hungry, but, except for our father, we were not in despair. Our mother was holding on-grim silent and watchful, but not cheerless; she was determined to bring us to the daylight. But she had a lot to watch, a lot to carry. She was watching our father,Continue reading “RKS Literature: Searching for the Daylight in Harlem (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: What to Expect at Swiss Customs (James Baldwin)
“Within seconds, the time it takes to cross a small backyard (French customs), one has left this outpost, the last witness to this indisputably dour and extraordinarily interesting people and one is facing the apple faced Swiss. Their quarters are impeccable, as are their uniforms. The Swiss do not smoke their cigarettes but leave themContinue reading “RKS Literature: What to Expect at Swiss Customs (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: What to Expect at the French Frontier (James Baldwin)
“The man at the frontier has cigarette ashes all up and down his uniform, and a cigarette is established between his lips. He has not the remotest interest in the voyager, or his passport. Sometimes he forces himself to squint at both. Sometimes he looks at the baggage, sometimes not. Sometimes he stamps the passport;Continue reading “RKS Literature: What to Expect at the French Frontier (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: The Brutally Manufactured Lola San-Marquand (James Baldwin)
“I never knew her to dress in any other way. She must have had hundreds of black dresses and scarves-though-in fact, a black and impetuous toque sometimes did duty for the scarf, This, however, was mainly on opening nights. She impressed me-she impresses me still-as one of the most curious, most loving, devious, ruthless, andContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Brutally Manufactured Lola San-Marquand (James Baldwin)”
RKS Literature: White Police: Black Men (James Baldwin)
“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)”
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)”
