And if victimization brings power, it s the power that counts. She surprised me. I hadn t realized she was even listening. I mean, you could say that whites got power by killing the Indians and enslaving the blacks. That s worse than using your history of victimization to get power.
People get power all sorts of ways.
We were outside the restaurant now, and she was hurrying to cover the few blocks to her rented car to make her next appointment. Working to keep pace, I suddenly felt a familiar doubt. Let s call it the black conservative doubt the feeling that one is talking into a void, that one might be right, might even have a compelling piece of truth, but that it is a truth unattached to any necessity, a truth with no means of enforcing itself. Often people don t listen as much for the truth as for the necessity that will hold them accountable to the truth. Failing to hear any such necessity, they can conclude that the truth itself has no relevance.