James Baldwin on the Shock of Recognition

“Around the age of 5, 6, or 7…. It comes off as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing Indians and, although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.”

James Baldwin, Speech at Cambridge Union, Cambridge, England, 17 February 1965

Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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