My People Is the Enemy: An Autobiographical Polemic (William Stringfellow Library)

It was to Harlem that I came from the Harvard Law School. I came to Harlem to live to work there as a lawyer to take some part in the politics of the neighborhood to be a layman in the Church there. It is now seven years later. In what I now relate about Harlem I do not wish to indulge in horror stories though that would be easy enough to do. In this extraordinary and passionate book William Stringfellow relates his deep concern with the ugly reality of being black and being poor. As a white Anglo-Saxon Mr. Stringfellow does not try to speak for African Americans and Puerto Ricans in the Harlem ghetto but as a lawyer he graphically underlines the failure of the American legal system to provide equal justice for the poor. And as a Christian who lived for seven years on what the New York Times called the worst block in New York City he challenges the reluctance of the churches to be involved in the racial crisis beyond the point of pontification. Few white men have shared such experiences; certainly none has expressed them so eloquently or ominously. . . . The most disturbing document since James Baldwins The Fire Next Time. . . . It is neither shouting nor scare journalism. It is a map of hell that might explode tragically at any moment. --William Hogan San Francisco Chronicle A worthwhile contribution to the American conscience at a time when it has at last decided to admit its shame. . . . Recommended to the policy makers who are charged with the practical expiation of this guilt. --Michael Harrington the New York Times Stringfellow has written a laymans sermon that cries out against both the churches and the people in the manner of biblical days. --Associated Press William Stringfellow was a practicing attorney and a prominent Episcopalian layman who frequently contributed to legal and theological journals. After his graduation from Harvard Law School he practiced some years in the East Harlem neighborhood in New York City. He was a visiting lecturer at several law schools and lectured at theological seminaries across the country. Stringfellow authored more than a dozen books including A Private and Public Faith An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land Conscience and Obedience Count it All Joy and Instead of Death.