Doing The Work: Woman Shares 90-Second Clip From James Baldwin Interview

Rising to meet this historic moment, 28-year-old Elyse Bradford retweeted a 90-second clip from James Baldwin’s 1968 interview with Dick Cavett, stating simply, “This.”

Though she favorited at least four Black Lives Matter posts over the past several months and donated ten dollars to Change.org, this was the first time Bradford had rolled up her sleeves and really actively participated in the conversation (not counting the requisite black square on Blackout Tuesday).

“It’s not enough to not be racist,” she said. “We have to be actively anti-racist. That means promoting wisdom from Black leaders like James Baldwin and Killer Mike and adding movies like Moonlight to our Netflix lists. I’m not a big sci-fi person, but it looks beautiful and I swear I’m going to get to it after my annual re-watch of The Office.”

Incredibly, Bradford didn’t even need to finish watching the Baldwin clip before feeling compelled to put her nose to the grindstone and click that retweet button. “At some point, talk is cheap” she explained. “You have to put your finger where your mouth is.”

The share made waves in the activist community, garnering seven likes and one reply from her sister which read, “Seriously, THIS.”

Asked if she considers herself a hero or even a bonafide martyr, Bradford demurred.

“There are tons of people who have been out there doing the work of sharing James Baldwin clips since long before I got activated. Like, what’s his name, Cameron Kaepernick. I think he was maybe the first.”

Bradford added that she was going to Paris for her honeymoon next spring, where she hoped to bump into Baldwin himself, maybe at a café or a bookstore. “He’s a writer, right?”

At press time, she was on the verge of retweeting Shaun King with the caption, “Pass it on.”