Search - Leaving Cleaver on DVD

Eldridge Cleaver "writer, solider, warrior"

William Cordova | harlem, NY | 07/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What is important to note is that Eldridge Cleaver would always be the first to analyze his mistakes and try to change them. Meeting James Baldwin in 1968, changing his views towards the writer/activist was one such step. One must understand the climate of the 60s and the urgency to define "Black manhood" in the presence of a savagely repressive America system. The jolt of extremity was needed in order to counter balance/shake up the status quo. As a "writer, solider, warrior" Cleaver prompted the masses and influenced others to use the pen as a tool for expression with warts and all. Noah, was not a perfect man nor did he heed his path towards alcohol but it was this such "in-perfect" individual who constructed and moved the masses in a vessel called the Ark. Eldridge Cleaver never professed to be above any other and the years of exile, disillusions anyone torn away from their home and community. Cleaver had no moral support, he was geographically and mentally exiled for years. The various radical shifts in his later life are an example of how schizophrenic many 60s radicals became due to the success of Cointelpro's actions in the US and abroad.


"It's like condemning a man who tried to quit smoking in a room full of smokers""