i think that's what kiese laymon said about representing black joy is important if we recall that germinal. i hope i don't make anyone mad asking this question. why is it always black people that are a race and white people do like they have a race. my question as i finished this, because we are the ones that invented race. emmanuelle and david invented race and we are living with the wages is interesting to me when i teach my students and i say to them when you write a story, why is it that no one has a race until the covered person walks into the room. i'm curious why aren't there any books where white people examine, and even now i could feel people flinching in the room. if you say african-american or native woman but if you seeif white woman, people start jumping like you are accusing them of something. i'm not accusing anyone of somei anything. i do wonder why it is that this is our burden to discuss. i welcome the challenge, but i would like my brothers and sisters, lgbtq etc. to examine what race means and not from this place where it explains who they person. i would love to have

kiese laymon. [applause] so let's jump right in. i thought first i would lead by asking your question about james baldwin -- james baldwin. when i was searching for a writer on the contemporary american black experience baldwin felt inevitable yet he died nearly 30 years ago. so my question for you is what makes his writing continue to resonate and if you turn to him is ideal for comfort comfort and solace. >> the first thing i should say is my university will get very angry at me i just recently was promoted to full professor. >> oh wow congratulations. [applause] and my colleagues might be watching this morning. james baldwin, i have a very involved relationship with him because my father was friends with him so when i first encountered his name on and countered it as my dad mentioning that they hung out at the village together and everything and then i met him when i was 14 and i remember his assistant coming up behind him and tracing a fur collared camel hair coat and i thought that's going to be me. [laughter] but as an adult i