Penitentiary Quotes

When the facilities of the government of the United States are drawn on an individual it can be terrifying. The blacklist is just the opening gambit - being deprived of work. Your passport is confiscated. That`s minor. But not being able to move without being tailed is something else. After a certain point it grows to implied as well as articulated threats, and people succumb. My wife did, and she was institutionalized. In 1953 the HUCA did a deal with me. I was pretty much worn down. I had no money. I couldn`t borrow. I had the expenses of taking care of the children. Why am I subjecting my loved ones to this? If it`s worth dying for, and I am just as idealistic as the next fellow. But I decided it wasn`t worth dying for, and if this gesture was the way of getting out of the penitentiary I`d do it. I had to be employable again." - interview with Victor Navasky for the book "Naming Names

It`s almost like a lot of black people in America, a lot of young black men, are born with this cloud over their heads. It`s their penitentiary cloud, this philosophy we all have, that it`s harder for us.

If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.

So I guess, in writing from my cell in the penitentiary, my question comes late. But what`s the call? How could I have addressed this problem more calmly?