If you’re trying to avoid reality, how can you face it?

I have loved James Baldwin since I read Go Tell it On the Mountain, Notes to a Native Son, and The Fire Next Time in the 10th grade.

Baldwin believed that all suffering comes when we push back against reality. We cannot change what we do not face. This concept became the centerpiece of my adult life.

Today, I’m sharing some old footage of him talking about suffering and reality.

Your suffering does not isolate you; your suffering is your bridge.

“In 1979, Joe Lovett produced a profile on author James Baldwin for ABC News’ 20/20 in which he talked to correspondent Sylvia Chase about the hatred he faced growing up black in America. He talked about the toll that hatred took on the haters. And he talked about people’s attitudes toward LGBTQ people and their attitudes toward themselves. The eloquent profile never aired and Joe was told, who wanted to listen to a Black, gay has-been?”

James Baldwin: Race, Media, And Psychoanalysis

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