I so enjoyed Studs Turkel on Democracy Now last night! When he mentioned Jimmy Baldwin, it made me think of sometihng. Jimmy Baldwin, in a speech that I believe I still have linked on this blog, gave the assessment of "the price you pay for not knowing me." Meaning, the price that the United States pays for ignoring and disregarding its Afro-American population. He said, quite prophetically and quite profoundly, "How are you going to deal with the people on the streets of Tehran, when you don't even know how to deal with me." the price you pay. Wickedness will never win anyway, but yes, the United States--even though de jure segregation has since ended, has paid and will continue to pay a price for its ill-treatment of people of color within its own borders. The house is going to fall. We must be the firemen to put the fire out, but let it burn honey, let it burn completely. Then build something new and good.