13/11/2024
Darnell L Moore celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of black gay writer, civil rights campaigner and incisive political analyst James Baldwin for the online magazine Queerty. Darnell examines what Baldwin saw in international movements against oppression and reveals an intelligence that still has much relevant to say to us today. Darnell notes for example "It is not a stretch for me to imagine what Baldwin might have to say about the plight of Palestinians at this moment because he has already offered us much to consider. In his essay, “Open Letter to the Born Again,” which was published in The Nation on September 29, 1979, Baldwin had this to say: “This is becoming clear (I must say that it was always clear to me). The Palestinians have been paying for the British colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’ and Europe’s guilty Christian conscience for more than thirty years.” There is so much in James Baldwin's writing that can illuminate the struggles of today. Darnell's essay is a good starting point, and you can find it at Queerty.com to enjoy with a cup of coffee and a commitment to learning some truths about the world in which we live.
