Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son

Baldwin describes his former home in Harlem and the problems facing communities like his within the national context of racism and discrimination. A housing project stands where his old house once stood. This community, filled with people who watched him grow up and hordes of children, faces extreme poverty. Many of the houses are vacant. Gang violence and drugs have infiltrated families and schools. Many people have been affected by the loss of loved ones to World War II, police brutality, overdoses, and other hardships. Baldwin explains that white Northerners are quick to admonish Southern racism while ignoring their own.

The people in communities like Harlem handle their emotions in different ways. Some live in bitterness. Others give up. Some travel each day to white areas of the city to work, only to return at the end of the day to struggle. Baldwin rejects the idea that the success of a few Black men is indicative of the ability to achieve upward mobility: “The determined will is rare—at the moment, in this country, it is unspeakably rare—and the inequalities suffered by the many are in no way justified by the rise of a few” (61). The reality is that Black families in Harlem face a nearly impossible challenge: They are poor, and the cost of poverty is high. They hate the housing projects built in their community, because they represent the white attitude toward Black Americans.

Police presence in Harlem contributes to the discrimination and oppression of Black residents. To the community, law enforcement represents white force and the white enactment of power. Each Black citizen has multiple stories about police brutality and mistreatment. Even well-intentioned individuals who serve as police officers become corrupt. They begin to see themselves and their families in the faces of the citizens. They are forced to confront the cost of racism. The only way for them to escape their discontent is to activate hatred and violence.

Baldwin argues that there is no difference between the treatment of Black people in the South and the North. The only difference is that the South is more open with its hatred, while the North collects Black people in places like Harlem. This keeps Black communities, as well as the truth of their own discrimination and prejudice, out of sight.