The death of the public intellectual - by bea
In the winter of 1965, three days before the assassination of Malcom X and six months before the Voting Rights Act was passed, the Cambridge Union Debating Chamber was packed to over-capacity. 700 students and guests filled the grand chamber, hundreds of others packed into adjacent galleries for a live broadcast, and even more stood waiting outside, hoping for a chance to get in. Over 1000 people were there to witness what has since become known as one of the most influential intellectual debates on race in America. That night, James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. stood on opposing sides of the question: “Has the American Dream been achieved at the expense of African Americans?”. It was an electrifying debate, with the two men embodying not just opposing arguments, but opposing Americas. Buckley, a conservative commentator, argued that personal responsibility, not systemic oppression, determined ones success in the country. While Baldwin, a civil rights activist carrying the weight
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