An interview they tried to bury 🤬
Conducted by the late Sylvia Chase, the interview took place at 137 West 71st Street—the Manhattan apartment building Baldwin bought for himself and his family in 1965, following the success of his early books.
It showcases rare footage of Baldwin relaxed and gregarious at home, surrounded by a large and close-knit family.
In a private conversation with Baldwin’s mother, Emma Berdis Baldwin, in the kitchen of her apartment, Chase asked if she always knew that her son would be a wildly successful writer; Baldwin's mother responded, “I didn’t think that. But I knew that he had to write.”
“White people go around, it seems to me, with a very carefully suppressed terror of Black people—a tremendous uneasiness,” Baldwin said.
“They don’t know what the Black face hides. They’re sure it’s hiding something.
What it’s hiding is American history.
What it’s hiding is what white people know they have done, and what they like doing.
White people know very well one thing; it’s the only thing they have to know.
They know this; everything else, they’ll say, is a lie.
They know they would not like to be Black here.
They know that, and they’re telling me lies.
They’re telling me and my children nothing but lies.”
Please read the article and watch the video! ➡️ https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a36727428/james-baldwin-1979-abc-interview-buried-surfaced/?fbclid=IwAR36J3ckB8b_3pit6bzOMaDYqm4ap869kYusam4iAC_RnEI7tI4w7H0RECg
Conducted by the late Sylvia Chase, the interview took place at 137 West 71st Street—the Manhattan apartment building Baldwin bought for himself and his family in 1965, following the success of his early books.
It showcases rare footage of Baldwin relaxed and gregarious at home, surrounded by a large and close-knit family.
In a private conversation with Baldwin’s mother, Emma Berdis Baldwin, in the kitchen of her apartment, Chase asked if she always knew that her son would be a wildly successful writer; Baldwin's mother responded, “I didn’t think that. But I knew that he had to write.”
“White people go around, it seems to me, with a very carefully suppressed terror of Black people—a tremendous uneasiness,” Baldwin said.
“They don’t know what the Black face hides. They’re sure it’s hiding something.
What it’s hiding is American history.
What it’s hiding is what white people know they have done, and what they like doing.
White people know very well one thing; it’s the only thing they have to know.
They know this; everything else, they’ll say, is a lie.
They know they would not like to be Black here.
They know that, and they’re telling me lies.
They’re telling me and my children nothing but lies.”
Please read the article and watch the video! ➡️ https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a36727428/james-baldwin-1979-abc-interview-buried-surfaced/?fbclid=IwAR36J3ckB8b_3pit6bzOMaDYqm4ap869kYusam4iAC_RnEI7tI4w7H0RECg
