Baldwin & Lorde on the American Dream in Essence (1984)

• James Baldwin: Du Bois believed in the American dream. So did Martin. So did Malcolm. So do I. So do you. That's why we're sitting here.
• Audre Lorde: I don't, honey. I'm sorry, I just can't let that go past. Deep, deep, deep down I know that dream was never mine. And I wept and I cried and I fought and I stormed, but I just knew it. I was Black. I was female. And I was out—out—by any construct wherever the power lay. So if I had to claw myself insane, if I lived I was going to have to do it alone. Nobody was dreaming about me. Nobody was even studying me except as something to wipe out.
• Baldwin, James, and Audre Lorde. "A Conversation Between James Baldwin and Audre Lorde." Essence Dec. 1984. Print. 72-73.