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“It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6, or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you.”

Source: Speech at the Cambridge Union debate, 18 February 1965

Context Debating William F. Buckley Jr. at the Cambridge Union, he spoke for the motion that the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro; the students voted in his favour.

Portrait of James Baldwin
James BaldwinUnited States · 1924–1987
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