“It would seem, unless one looks more deeply at the phenomenon, that most people are able to delude themselves and get through their lives quite happily. But I still believe that the unexamined life is not worth living; and I know that self-delusion, in the service of no matter what small or lofty cause, is a price no writer can afford. His subject is himself and the world and it requires every ounce of stamina he can summon to attempt to look on himself and the world as they are.” – James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name, page xii

I’ve finished Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi so I started James Baldwin’s Nobody Knows My Name this morning. I did not know Baldwin was openly gay. His writing hits home with me in a lot of ways, as a writer, as a disabled person, and as a woman. The search for yourself, for truth, for antiracism, for freedom from persecution and hatred.

I look forward to learning more from him.