James A. Baldwin Quotes About Racism

Quotes about: Racism

• I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

  James A. Baldwin

  Forgiveness, Encouragement, Pain

  "Me and My House". Harper's Magazine, November 1955.

• Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise. If we do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world.

  James A. Baldwin

  Country, Hands, Racism

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

• It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.

  James A. Baldwin

  Spiritual, Children, Hate

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

• It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.

  James A. Baldwin

  Racism, Age, World

• All racists are irresponsible.

  James A. Baldwin

  Race, Racism, Racist

• The reason people think it's important to be white is that they think it's important not to be black.

  James A. Baldwin

  Thinking, White, Racism

• It must be remembered that in those great days I was considered to be an "integrationist" - this was never, quite, my own idea of myself - and Malcolm was considered to be a "racist in reverse." This formulation, in terms of power - and power is the arena in which racism is acted out - means absolutely nothing: it may even be described as a cowardly formulation. The powerless, by definition, can never be "racists," for they can never make the world pay for what they feel or fear except by the suicidal endeavor which makes them fanatics or revolutionaries, or both.

  James A. Baldwin

  Suicidal, Mean, Ideas

• Negro servants have been smuggling odds and ends out of white homes for generations, and white people have been delighted to have them do it, because it has assuaged a dim guilt and testified to the intrinsic superiority of white people.

  James A. Baldwin

  Home, Odds, White

  "Letter from a Region in My Mind" by James A. Baldwin, www.newyorker.com. November 17, 1962.

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