The point of this letter is to propose that the coming of that distant day, and the end, therefore, of the need for the violent speech of the inner city streets, is up to us. The starving fellah (or the jobless inner city NHI, the global New Poor or les damnés), Fanon pointed out, does not have to inquire into the truth. He is, they are, the Truth. It is we who institute this “Truth”. We must now undo their narratively condemned status.
I am,
Sincerely yours,
Sylvia Wynter
Professor,
Afro-American Studies
May, 1992
