James Baldwin at City College San Francisco (1969)

KPIX-TV Eyewitness news report from April 10th 1969 by Ed Arnow featuring an interview with James Baldwin at City College San Francisco. Baldwin reflects on the current state of American  society, the future and his own feelings about our ability to change things. He points out: "The young are not yet locked into any system at all … They don't have yet what a man of my age would have to protect or defend. They know that there's something wrong with the war. Something wrong with the cities. Something wrong with what we call our priorities." When Arnow asks Baldwin to predict what will happen in America over the next 4-5 years, he counters: "I'm not a prophet. It depends very much ... on what the American people are willing to do about the people who represent them. Whether or not they're willing to change society or at least examine it and decide what to do about it." Opening graphic designed by Carrie Hawks.

Note: this film reversal print was remastered in 4K (4096 x 2970) using our new Lasergraphics ScanStation film scanner, in October 2020.