Baldwin Manifesto I

That the artist's struggle for integrity is a kind of metaphor for the universal and daily struggle for all human beings on the face of this terrifying globe to get to become human beings

It is not our fault, not my fault that I write

I would never have come before you in the position of a complainant for something I must do

What we might get at this evening, if we are lucky

If the mic doesn't fail, if my voice holds out, is what the importance of this effort is

I want to suggest two propositions

The first one is that the poets, by which I mеan all artists, are the only peoplе who know the truth about us

Soldiers don't

Statesmen don't

Priests don't

Union leaders don't

Only the poets

That is my first proposition