Circuito Ubu - Agosto de 2021

Certain themes repeat: empowerment through segregation, anti-micegenation, black nationalism as a response to white nationalism etc. How can one say Malcolm X was wrong? How can one deny that his anger and reaction to white supremacy was legitimate? And yet, somewhere between X's powerful angry truth and King's naively optimistic 'arc of history,' (destroyed by Coates) lies Baldwin (who embodies Gramsci's 'pessimism of the intelligence, optimism of the will'). It is fascinating how the question of love towards one's oppressor comes up repeatedly between all these African American thinkers. X says he will never love the white man, who cannot love blacks. Baldwin understands this and speaks to it, while also recognising there must be some point after anger. It can become a trap. We do not forgive our oppressors for their sake, because they deserve our love. No, we forgive them for ourselves. To move beyond the lie they have chosen to create that we are opposites at war. Why should they alone get to decide? Because they have the guns? Guns be damned. There is power, also, in choosing how one reacts to oppression. For X, loving whites is submission. For Baldwin, what he calls love can also be a kind of opposition. ( )

For my thoughts: Bridget Blogs Books ( )