“You don’t need numbers; you need passion, and this is proven by the history of the world!”
James Baldwin (1924-1987) American writer, civil rights activist
and subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary
“I am Not Your Negro” based on
James Baldwin’s life, interviews, and writings.
“When James Baldwin wrote this he was enormously disillusioned at this point in the civil rights movement. It looked like it was getting reversed. He said: ‘I still believe that we can do with this country something that has not been done before. We are misled here because we think of numbers.’ And that is when he added that we need passion. I end the preface in my book with a list of 12 moments in history when citizens have led whole nations out of darkness. We should never forget that we have enormous power as citizens if we just reclaim it for the good of all.”
Diana McLain Smith, Ph.D., author of
Remaking The Space Between Us:
How Citizens Can Work Together
To Build A Better Future For All
