By James Baldwin.
The crisis of leadership in the white community is remarkable—and terrifying—because there is, in fact, no white community.
This may seem like an enormous statement—and it is. I'm willing to be challenged. I'm also willing to attempt to spell it out.
My frame of reference is, of course, America, or that portion of the North American continent that calls itself America. And this means I am speaking, essentially, of the European vision of the world—or, more precisely, perhaps the European vision of the universe. It is a vision as remarkable for what it pretends to include as for what it remorselessly diminishes, demolishes or leaves totally out of account.