Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
James Baldwin As Much Truth As One Can Bear (The New York Times) (1962)
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When and why it was written
- When
- Published in the New York Times Book Review in January 1962.
- Why
- Baldwin was writing about the American refusal to look at its own history.
What it means
Two clauses that resist both optimism and despair. The first concedes the limit: facing a thing is no guarantee.
The second makes facing it non-optional anyway. Baldwin is closing the exit where people justify not looking by pointing out that looking would not fix it.
Read the source
As Much Truth As One Can Bear (The New York Times), 1962
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