But here's one moment where you can really see Griffin's pacifism at work: It's more what he doesn't say than what he does.

This part of Griffin's tone is more of a negative than positive attribute. More than anything else, it seems that Griffin just wants peace and equality. Griffin's text is not a call to arms for black people, and it doesn't demand that racists be punished. The authors of other personal texts were angry and they wanted justice. They condemned white people for slavery and racism. Aside from the scientific articles with their cold and rational reasoning, most of the personal texts available at the time were probably written from a combative point of view. Not only is the text different because it's very personal, it's also different because it's non-combative. That's a very real person, with very real feelings. Wouldn't you be surprised? That's not an abstract person. The Griffin that was had become invisible. I had tampered with the mystery of existence and I had lost the sense of my own being. Then one day while reading you come across a line like this: You're used to reading abstract scientific studies on the state of black people. At the time, Griffin's blunt descriptions of the horrors that he sees and his confidential tone shocked his readers. It's full of emotion, imagery, sadness, and even fear. Personal, Not Combative, Depressed/Terrified Personalīlack Like Me is not your everyday scientific or journalistic article.

John griffin black like me