My grandfather had asked me many times whether I'd like to come to South Carolina with him. He wanted to introduce me to our people down there and I didn't want to go. In those days, the South was still a place where black kids were lynched. Something horrible could happen to you. I've had that feeling my whole life.
John Edgar WidemanThere are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally.
John Edgar WidemanGood writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.
John Edgar WidemanEven in my adult years, when I heard a white person speaking in a Southern accent I was initially suspicious.
John Edgar Wideman