It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as men. It treats them as mascots, pets, or things.
James A. BaldwinRead
If you're treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person. If certain things are described to you as being real they're real for you whether they're real or not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our experiences and perceptions shape our identities and realities.
James A. Baldwin emphasizes the profound impact that external treatment and societal descriptions have on an individual's identity and perception of reality. He suggests that how people are treated influences who they become, and the narratives surrounding them shape their understanding of what is true, regardless of objective reality.
Themes
IdentityPerceptionRealityTreatmentSelf
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about social justice, this quote can illustrate the effects of systemic treatment on individuals.
More from James A. Baldwin
All quotes →The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.
James A. BaldwinRead
Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves.
James A. BaldwinRead
Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.
James A. BaldwinRead
The reason people think it's important to be white is that they think it's important not to be black.
James A. BaldwinRead
The trick is to love somebody.... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently.
James A. BaldwinRead
Similar quotes
The serious people who took him seriously never felt quite sure of his deportment; they were somehow aware that trusting their reputations for judgment with him was like furnishing a nursery with egg-shell china.
H. G. WellsRead
Fly, dotard, fly! With thy wise dreams and fables of the sky.
Alexander PopeRead
And now she was back in the world, not one she could make, but the one that had made her, and she felt herself shrinking under the early evening sky. She was weary of being outdoors, but she was not ready to go in. Was that really all there was in life, indoors or out? Wasn't there somewhere else for people to go?
Ian McewanRead
Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, political, or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies.
Mark TwainRead
Since I am convinced that I wrong no one, I am not likely to wrong myself.
SocratesRead
Reason wishes that the judgement it gives be just; anger wishes that the judgement it has given seem to be just.
Seneca The YoungerRead