“The Constitution gives you the right, as a white man, to have a rifle in your home. The Constitution gives you the right to protect yourself. Why is it ‘ominous’ when black people even talk of having rifles? Why don’t we have the right to self-defense? Is it because maybe you know we’re going to have to defend ourselves against you?”
More from James Baldwin
“Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they…”
“And, here I was, left with only myself to deal with. It was entirely up to me.”
“Art is here to prove, and to help one bare, the fact that all safety is an illusion.”