Black Americans must condemn a beloved civilization they cannot honorably defend

Evidence

To be an Afro-American, or an American Black, is to be in the situation, intolerably exaggerated, of all those who have ever found themselves part of a civilization which they could in no wise honorably defend—which they were compelled, indeed, endlessly to attack and condemn—and who yet spoke out of the most passionate love, hoping to make the kingdom new, to make it honorable and worthy of life. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 349

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of the black American predicament Baldwin articulated: loving attack on an indefensible civilization, the template for the ‘after times’ stance.
• XREF: Connects to Baldwin’s own Arendt-derived phrasing; resonates with the late-Baldwin argument the reader is building for recanonization.