No Name in the Street

Baldwin is still working on the screenplay about Malcolm X when he learns about Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination (he has stopped working with the Hollywood studios due to their conflicting visions about Malcolm X’s story). At King’s funeral, Baldwin is in emotional distress, mourning his friends who died too soon and thinking of their families.

Baldwin hosts a gathering organized by the Black Panthers to raise money for Huey P. Newton’s legal defense. Baldwin describes the founding principles of the Black Panther Party, explaining that it was a response to the Black community’s need for self-defense against police violence. Black Panthers emphasized that “black people need protection against the police” and stressed their right to defend themselves (158). Mainstream society saw the Black Panthers as disruptive figures. Baldwin criticizes white people’s inability to realize the racism of the legal system. White Americans insist on the myth that “the police are honorable, and the courts are just” (160). For Baldwin, every aspect of American culture reinforces this delusion. He notes that within the “ghetto” structure, police violence is dominant and resembles criminal harassment. Ultimately, the “ghetto” is deliberately targeted and economically exploited by the system.