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Hugh Downs died today at the age of 99. His death reminded me of something. While researching _Begin Again_ at the @SchomburgCenter, I came across a beautiful exchange of letters between Downs and James Baldwin. 1/
Downs was the anchor of NBC's Today Show and wrote Baldwin expressing his admiration and his own desire to do more with his platform to address the issue of racial justice in the country. 2/
It took Baldwin awhile to respond, but in May of 1966, he wrote Downs from Istanbul. "I am less sanguine, perhaps than you are," he noted. "I may have shed too many tears already. 3/
It cannot be said that they released me, nor, since they clearly have released no one else, can I call them tears of joy. I don't have any advice to give you except the advice I give to myself, which is to try to be clear, to refuse despair." 4/
"But the price of change is awful and it is also extremely concrete, and one's got to be prepared, I think, to lose everything one hoped for and everything one has." 5/
In this exchange, Baldwin made clear to Downs the costs for real change, and it was a warning of sorts to understand what awaited him if chose this road: Be prepared to risk it all. Our salvation requires nothing less. 6/
