James Baldwin and Democracy Today

Question: Have you ever taken a deep dive into what the great American author James Baldwin meant when he said this:

“I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

                (from James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son) 

The following essay, Democracy and Dinosaurs down by the Riverside, offers an important demonstration of why Baldwin's words possibly matter now more than ever as Americans (and the world) observes America250 and prepare themselves for an uncertain future impacted by AI, midterm elections, climate extremism, and evolving definitions of the world "normal."

Democracy and Dinosaurs down by the Riverside (part 1 of 3): Culture

Democracy and Dinosaurs down by the Riverside (part 2 of 3): Chromina

Democracy and Dinosaurs down by the Riverside (part 3 of 3): Timelines

Aberjhani


Multiple figures like these by sculptor Woodrow Nash within the Plant Riverside District’s Baobab Lounge can give the sense of being immersed in a physical hologram that greatly enhances visitors’ experiences. (Photograph by Aberjhani ©2026)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT OF BEAUFORD DELANEY

Image
    This 1941 portrait of celebrated author James Baldwin, entitled “Dark Rapture,” is one of numerous masterworks created by the equally celebrated Harlem Renaissance artist Beauford Delaney (1902-1979). Delaney (whose brother Joseph, 1904-1991, was also an accomplished artist) enjoyed a remarkable career that spanned some five decades. That he was a visual artist whose creative aesthetics profoundly influenced the work of a major literary artist like James Baldwin is one indicator of how powerfully charged the creative energy of the Harlem Renaissance truly was. Aberjhani Co-author of ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE And the author of I MADE MY BOY OUT OF POETRY
Read more

Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 2 President Barack Obama - National African-American Art | Examiner.com

Image
President Barack Obama greeting military personnel at Pensacola base in 2010 . (White House photo) Prior to leaving Washington D.C. on December 23 to join his family on Christmas vacation in Hawaii, President Barack Obama spent the week advocating for passage of the Payroll Tax Cut Extension, finally achieving a last-minute victory in the kind of intense political tug of war that characterized much his presidency in 2011. His endurance in his third year as the “leader of the free world” and the often-debated advances he has achieved on behalf of the U.S. in the face of economic and political upheavals that shook the world place him at number 2 in the current countdown . To read more of the article by Aberjhani please click this link : Countdown of 10 amazing moments from the year 2011: No. 2 President Obama - National African-American Art | Examiner.com
Read more

The Year of James Baldwin Now in Full Classic Literary Swing (part 1) - by Aberjhani

Image
Author James Baldwin in St. Paul de Vence, France, 1976. (photo by Dmitri Kasterine) “It has always been much easier (because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within. And yet, the terror within is far truer and far more powerful than any of our labels: the labels change, the terror is constant.” –James Baldwin, from  the essay Nothing Personal Members of New York City’s cultural arts community made a rare kind of decision earlier this year and the results of that decision continue to generate exceptional events and responses. They–– as in Columbia University School of the Arts, Harlem Stage, and New York Live Arts–– elected to observe The Year of James Baldwin from April 2014 until June 2015 in honor of the late iconoclastic African-American author’s 90th birthday August 2, 2014. Long before he died on December 1, 1987, millions came to recognize the indelible mark...
Read more