White return to cities involves dismissing Black presence and reproaches.

Evidence

We are sorry…but we really must, for our own peace of mind, dismiss you. We refuse to be intimidated by your insistent presence, your endless demands on our integrity, your bottomless reproaches. As soon as we get you out of here, we’ll fix the streets and re-build the houses and raise our children as we see fit—without you. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 517

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the voice of the lie — white America’s self-soothing dismissal of ongoing Black demands, voiced by Baldwin himself in an unpublished draft.
• XREF: Directly echoes the reader’s core thesis about ‘the lie’ — the national story told to oneself after a failed reckoning.
• SEED: Could anchor an essay on gentrification as a contemporary instance of the lie — suburban flight followed by ‘dismissal’ on return.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘Grafting & Growth’ by contrast — the Whole Foods shrines of returning suburbs replacing vibrant Black cultural space like Mikell’s jazz club.