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City of Berkeley
Proclamation

FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS, JAMES BALDWIN HAS SHARED HIS VISION FOR HUMANKIND AND HIS SEARING CRITICISM OF AMERICAN SOCIAL PATTERNS WITH A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE THROUGH HIS NOVELS, PLAYS AND ESSAYS. BORN IN HARLEM IN 1924, HE WAS WRITTEN OF LOVE AND HATE, THE RICHNESS OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE AND THE CRIPPLING SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE RACIAL CASTE SYSTEM IN AMERICA.

HE HAS WRITTEN OF HIS APPROACH "I MAKE MY JOURNEY BY RADAR. I MUST TRUST AND MUST PURSUE AND BEAR MY DISCOVERIES IN THE BEST WAY I CAN. I KNOW IT'S HARD ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES AND IT'S CERTAINLY HARD ON MINE, BUT I'M NOT BEING FRIVOLOUS AND IT'S DONE OUT OF LOVE."

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND COUNTELSS OTHER READERS IN THE WORLD HAVE DEEPLY APPRECIATED HIS COMPASSSION, THE PROPHETIC BEAUTY OF HIS WRITING AND THE CLEAR PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHTS WHICH ILLUMINATE THE MURKY AREAS OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS. MANY AMERICANS ALSO DISCOVERED THAT THE FIRM ETHICAL POSITIONS WHICH SUFFUSE HIS PROSE SHAPED THEIR RESOLVE, PARTICULARY IN THE 1960'S, TO WORK ON BEHALF OF THE SOCIAL JUSTICE. FOR NOT ONLY DID HIS WRITING ACT AS A PROPELLER TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, BUT HIS EARLY CRITICISM OF THE AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIET NAM WAR ADDED BODY TO WHAT BECAME A POWERFUL ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT.

CONTRIBUTING A SIGNIFICANT BODY OF LITERATURE TO THE AMERICAN LITERARY SCENE AND WITH IT, INFLUENCING SOCIAL CHANGE IS QUITE ENOUGH AND READERS WOULD NOT EXPECT MORE. BUT HE HAS CONTRIBUTED MORE. HE PUT HIS LIFE ON THE LINE IN THE DECADE BEGINNING IN THE LATE 50'S WHEN HE JOURNEYED MANY TIMES TO THE SOUTH, JOINING CIVIL RIGHTS WORKER IN THEIR LIFE-DEATH STRUGGLE TO FREE AMERICA OF A LINGERING SHAME.

MR. BALDWIN HAS BEEN WITH US IN THE CITY OF BERKELEY THE PAST THREE WEEKS WHILE SERVING AS REGENTS' LECTURER IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. THE UNIVERSITY IS PAYING TRIBUTE TO HIM WITH AN EXHIBITION OF HIS WORK IN THE DOE LIBRARY. BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE CITY OF BERKELEY CHEIRSH HIS WORK AND SHARE HIS IDEALS, IT IS MORE THAN FITTING THAT WE JOIN UNIVERSITY IN PAYING TRIBUTE TO THIS DISTINGUISHED AUTHOR. 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT I, EUGENE "GUS" NEWPORT, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF BERKELEY, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1979, AS
JAMES  BALDWIN  DAY
IN THE CITY OF BERKELEY, AND URGE ALL CITIZENS TO REACQUAINT OR ACQUAINT THEMSELVES WITH THE GREAT WORKS OF JAMES BALDWIN.

Eugene "Gus" Newport
Mayor

Berkeley, California
May 1, 1979