Having the Courage to Understand the World

Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in the preface of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth “Have the courage to read it, primarily because it will make you feel ashamed, and shame, as Marx said, is a revolutionary feeling,” referring to white Europeans reading Fanon’s masterful book.

Sartre noting that fear, shame that we have learning about things we know we are not comfortable with is a practice and a skill that I find ever-evolving. In the case of the book mentioned above, the premise and the vision for a better world is one that requires a concession your people are responsible for the oppression and genocide of people everywhere. It’s a book that leaves readers with the conclusion that their very existence is predicated on the subjugation of those living in the Global South. Sartre speaks of the necessary feeling Marx recognizes as revolutionary once one feels shame. If we think that our circumstances are so utterly devoid of liberation, of freedom, what then can we do but seek a broader vision for life?

Whenever I’m approaching a new text, looking for different ways to explain what we’re all living through, I would be lying if I never do feel fear. The picture Fanon or Ruthie Gilmore paint is bleak. It is difficult to read. To say anything else, would be disingenuous. But that’s also a necessary step. It’s so crucial for me to feel that deep sense…