Baldwin was a prolific writer and political activist fighting against both racial and LGBT inequalities (way before the later started gaining major press). His novels explore intricacies of identity and the pressures of societal construct. He also wrote many plays, short stories, and essays that are well worth exploring. Also, check out his "Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Y. Davis."Finally, as quoted in "James Baldwin Back Home" by Robert Coles (NYT, July 1977):
"It's no credit to this enormously rich country that there are more oppressive, less decent governments elsewhere. We claim superiority of our institutions. We ought to live up to our own standards, not use misery elsewhere as an endless source of self-gratification and justification. Of course, people tell me all the time in the West that they are trying, they are trying hard. Some have tears in their eyes and let me know how awful they feel about the way our poor live, our blacks, or those in dozens of other countries. People can cry much easier than they can change, a rule of psychology people like me picked up as kids on the street."
See Also:
Bush and Hurt Feelings
White History Month
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