A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond by Percival Everett, James Kincaid Page A
Authors: Percival Everett, James Kincaid
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something—you know, get material for this fucking book? Short of that, can you advise me? You know him and may be aware of the terrifying power he can exert. I am not ordinarily impressionable, but this is different. If he has another go at me, I am not sure what I might do or what shreds of self I may be left with.
Help me and maybe I can return the favor. Perhaps I can use whiteout and change the figures on your contract, for instance? I’m up to anything.
Your friend,
R. Juniper McCloud
Juniper McCloud
Assistant to Martin Snell
O FFICE OF S ENATOR S TROM T HURMOND
217 R USSELL S ENATE B UILDING
W ASHINGTON , D.C. 20515
November 18, 2002
Dear Percival and James, James and Percival, Jacival and Perames,
Martin Snell, who is a caution don’t you think?, sent along to me your letter of November 10. In that letter, you (which of you? both?) raised points of clarification—don’t you love people who raise their hands in meetings and say “point of clarification” when what they really want to do is get their two cents worth in and achieve anything but clarity? But your points of clarification really deserve a careful review and, as you are saying right about now, responses that drill right to the mother lode.
You see, I know you better than you suppose, know and sympathize. But I have trouble keeping you apart. You are two separate people, right? One of you writes and the other grubs facts? But which of you thinks? I don’t mean that as an insult exactly. It would help if you answered my previous question: which of you is black? I ask not because I assume that knowing race I would know all. I wouldn’t be the one to suppose that if Kincaid were black, for instance, he would be able to play for the Washington Wizards (a basketball team), that he would have children scattered all over the West Coast, or that he would have a huge dangler of a tommywhocker. Nor, to continue this, would I assume that Everett, if white, would be insecure, inept on the court, and hardly able to find his equipment when doing the old hobble and gobble.
I am, you see, no racist. None of my best friends are black, but that’s a matter of accident and what you might call geography. The black people who are in my immediate world, that is the Senator’s office, are numerous but not quite my thing, if you follow me. Were they the right thing, they would, some of them, be my best friends. I thought perhaps Juniper McCloud, who works for that Snell person, was black. But I’ve seen him and he is not. Well, to be honest, I never supposed he was. “Stop dissembling, Bub!”
But if I knew which of you was black—you couldn’t send photos, could you?—I could form a mental picture. Once I have a mental picture, that’s all I need. I dwell on it and I know. Are you aware, either of you (perhaps the fact-finding one?) that Thomas Carlyle wrote his celebrated lectures “On Heroes and Hero Worship” by gazing at pictures of heroes like Cromwell and Luther (not exactly a hero in my view) and Napoleon (who is to argue with that choice?) and letting his mind burrow into the soul of the image? Then he wrote. Just wrote from inside. He didn’t do mundane research; he stared and depended on his own inner resources to supply the rest. Did you know that? Anyhow, that is the process I would like to follow with you two, Percival and James. Hey, do you have nicknames? Should I create nicknames of my own? I mean, Percy and Jim, which is likely what you have now, don’t inspire much soul-gazing, now do they?
I suggest Spike and Panda.
So, without knowing exactly whom I am addressing, but still knowing what I know, I will move to your concerns. I gather that your concerns fall into three areas:
—the form, that is, what kind of history is it?
—the position to take, that is, how political is it and what is the political brand?
—the flow of information and authority, that is, who feeds whom?
In order:
—My view is that it should be a
Help me and maybe I can return the favor. Perhaps I can use whiteout and change the figures on your contract, for instance? I’m up to anything.
Your friend,
R. Juniper McCloud
Juniper McCloud
Assistant to Martin Snell
O FFICE OF S ENATOR S TROM T HURMOND
217 R USSELL S ENATE B UILDING
W ASHINGTON , D.C. 20515
November 18, 2002
Dear Percival and James, James and Percival, Jacival and Perames,
Martin Snell, who is a caution don’t you think?, sent along to me your letter of November 10. In that letter, you (which of you? both?) raised points of clarification—don’t you love people who raise their hands in meetings and say “point of clarification” when what they really want to do is get their two cents worth in and achieve anything but clarity? But your points of clarification really deserve a careful review and, as you are saying right about now, responses that drill right to the mother lode.
You see, I know you better than you suppose, know and sympathize. But I have trouble keeping you apart. You are two separate people, right? One of you writes and the other grubs facts? But which of you thinks? I don’t mean that as an insult exactly. It would help if you answered my previous question: which of you is black? I ask not because I assume that knowing race I would know all. I wouldn’t be the one to suppose that if Kincaid were black, for instance, he would be able to play for the Washington Wizards (a basketball team), that he would have children scattered all over the West Coast, or that he would have a huge dangler of a tommywhocker. Nor, to continue this, would I assume that Everett, if white, would be insecure, inept on the court, and hardly able to find his equipment when doing the old hobble and gobble.
I am, you see, no racist. None of my best friends are black, but that’s a matter of accident and what you might call geography. The black people who are in my immediate world, that is the Senator’s office, are numerous but not quite my thing, if you follow me. Were they the right thing, they would, some of them, be my best friends. I thought perhaps Juniper McCloud, who works for that Snell person, was black. But I’ve seen him and he is not. Well, to be honest, I never supposed he was. “Stop dissembling, Bub!”
But if I knew which of you was black—you couldn’t send photos, could you?—I could form a mental picture. Once I have a mental picture, that’s all I need. I dwell on it and I know. Are you aware, either of you (perhaps the fact-finding one?) that Thomas Carlyle wrote his celebrated lectures “On Heroes and Hero Worship” by gazing at pictures of heroes like Cromwell and Luther (not exactly a hero in my view) and Napoleon (who is to argue with that choice?) and letting his mind burrow into the soul of the image? Then he wrote. Just wrote from inside. He didn’t do mundane research; he stared and depended on his own inner resources to supply the rest. Did you know that? Anyhow, that is the process I would like to follow with you two, Percival and James. Hey, do you have nicknames? Should I create nicknames of my own? I mean, Percy and Jim, which is likely what you have now, don’t inspire much soul-gazing, now do they?
I suggest Spike and Panda.
So, without knowing exactly whom I am addressing, but still knowing what I know, I will move to your concerns. I gather that your concerns fall into three areas:
—the form, that is, what kind of history is it?
—the position to take, that is, how political is it and what is the political brand?
—the flow of information and authority, that is, who feeds whom?
In order:
—My view is that it should be a
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