That time James Baldwin beat the ‘blues’

In his column recalling past interviews, veteran reporter A Craig Copetas revisits conversations with the American novelist and civil rights activist, who argued that education was the only way to turn the table on those who are keeping you down.

Do the faraway events of May 4, 1970, meet your definition of an identifiable life-shattering churn – 13 seconds in which 67 rounds of military-grade ammunition killed four and wounded nine students at Kent State University in Ohio. This is not a weary stroll down Baby Boom Lane. It is about the theory of relativity and the scientific truth that the laws of time and space operate in the same way for all of us – regardless of our location or time frame. Although there will not be a test, take a moment to look around wherever you are, be it Beirut, Kabul, Detroit or a Palestinian refugee camp.