Shaking the Dungeon

A Polemic Inspired by James Baldwin

Dr. James Baldwin, September 13, 1955. Photo by Carl Van Vechten.

“History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. If we pretend otherwise, we are literally criminals.

I attest to this: the world is not white; it never was white, cannot be white. White is a metaphor for power, and that is simply a way of describing Chase Manhattan Bank.”

― James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro (2017)

Greetings

Greetings! And welcome! My name is Robert Jones, Jr., and I would like to thank you all so much for subscribing to Witness. If you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It is through paid subscriptions that I can continue to write in this medium and share my art, observations, perspectives, joys, and concerns with you.

Here are recent Witness testimonials from new paid/founding subscribers

Steve Needham

and

Lucie Brooks

:

“It not only gives me a deeper and more diverse view of the world, it manages to uplift me even among all the horrors that plague people.”

“I have followed your work from the early days of Son of Baldwin and I plan to keep reading and supporting until, as you said, it's no longer legal. Wishing you safety and community in the coming years. Thank you for the role you have played in being one of the many writers who have shaped my ability to think, my capacity to imagine, and my moral compass.”

I am also the author of The Prophets, a novel that, so far, faces challenges in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas because of its investigations of queer sexuality, unflattering American history, anti-Blackness, pro-Blackness, white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, religion, and rebellion—among other things. Internationally, it has also been prevented from being published in Israel and Turkey, presumably because it has been regarded as something that runs contrary to Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Tayyip Erdogan’s misanthropic principles and could, therefore, disturb the status quo.

Despots ban books because there are things that they don’t want you to know; things that if you knew, you could free yourself. And they ban fiction in particular—especially fiction by marginalized authors—because they realize that fiction helps to develop critical thinking, empathy, and theory of mind in readers, three things they don’t want us to have because without them, we are easier to control, manipulate, and turn against the planet and each other.

Beginning in 2025, there’s a good chance that marginalized authors won’t be able to publish books in the U.S. at all. So many people and corporations have already bent the knee in anticipation of Trump’s ascent to America’s brand-spanking-new iron throne and I’m certain many more will do the same come January and beyond. Those who have bowed and curtsied believe themselves “pragmatists”; but that’s just a five-dollar word for cowards.

(And please take note: The conservatives are keeping track of the companies who have, in essence and practice, kissed Trump’s ring so that they can give those companies their full financial support. The only righteous and effective response is for us to also keep track of these companies and completely, and to the best of our abilities, withhold our financial support. We won’t survive if we keep feeding the monster that’s eating us.

Artists who wish to continue practicing and sharing their art, as well as eke out some way of earning a living from doing so, will face tremendous—and possibly even legal—pressure to create the opposite of art: propaganda; pre-approved by the knights of Trump’s treacherous kingdom, who, unsurprisingly, will be populated by our very own family members and neighbors.

Well, I refuse in advance.

Speaking of which, I had the honor and privilege of participating in a documentary series by the Brazilian news organization Folha de S.Paulo called Arte da Censura, which takes a look at censorship and book banning around the globe, and the devastating effects these oppressive measures have on societies—especially the most vulnerable among us: children. You can watch it in its entirety below.

Thank you again for being here.

And remember: Buy banned books!

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Introduction

On September 10, 2024, I was scheduled to deliver the keynote address on behalf of La Maison Baldwin at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, France, in celebration of James Baldwin’s 100th birth anniversary. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to attend.

However, today, on the 37th anniversary of his transition to Ancestorhood, I am publishing the intended speech here, exclusively on Witness, for paid subscribers. This is the first time it is being released publicly and you are the first audience to ever have access to it. Since I’m extraordinarily realistic about the nightmarish world order that Trump, his overlords, and his minions are ushering in, I wanted to share this with you now while it is still legal for me to do so. I hope that you find value and fortification in it.

And as a bonus, I’ve included the conversation

Yahdon Israel

and I had at the Center for Fiction last month regarding Baldwin, his fiction, his imagination, and his influence. The video is embedded below.

Thank you again.

Blessings upon blessings,
Robert

And now for the essay: