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Black Power could never overrun this robust idea of our individuality. Categories, especially racial categories, remain the bait in the trap. Instead, Baldwin insisted that we reach for a better self, and that involved leaving the “swaddling clothes” and certain “habits” behind. Swaddling clothes call forth the image of a baby, of innocence wrapped tight and secure. But in Baldwin’s hands, the clothes refer to a refusal to grow up, and those habits indicate an unwillingness to leave behind childish things. The text of 1 Corinthians 13:11 comes to mind: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, ...more
Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
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