Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

You know, you're so right to say that we have to confront it.

It requires, you know, being willing to be vulnerable.

Well, you know, so one of the most powerful things about Baldwin is that he goes to the interior not to stay there.

but as the launching pad to go outward.

So the interior is the basis for moving to a broader form of social criticism.

Some people will move from social criticism to the interior and you end up with this kind of narcissistic kind of account where it's just simply about the individual and their own pain and suffering, right?

For Jimmy, that individual pain, as early as reading notes of a native son,

where you end with him at the funeral of his stepfather, with the birth of his youngest sister, and him leaving to get ready to go to Paris, and of course, the riots in New York.

So there's a way in which the autobiographical is the kind of point of entry to the broader social context.

I think that's really important in our own moment because we live in a moment that's so driven by our own individual brands, right?

You know, our social media platforms or micro reality shows, right?

It's very difficult for us to move outside of our own selves into a

a broader understanding of our relation, genuine relationship with others.

When Jimmy says choose life, don't wallow in the illusion.

Don't settle for safety.

That's not about a how-to manual.

That's not about a corporate strategy for dealing with difference in your midst.

The point here is to choose life is a deeper existential question about who do you take yourself to be.

We travel and we move around the surfaces because we're afraid of what's in the dark cellar.

We don't want to look the terror squarely in the face.