Cosmopolitanism and Tragic Silence 143been a partial projection of the inexpiate remorse he feels for evad-
ing America’s struggle for “racial” equality. This proposition is first
suggested rather subtly when Silk describes the events surrounding
the fateful day when he used the term “spooks” while taking the
classroom register. He said the word, he tells us, not while “stand-
ing there reviewing the legacy of slavery, the metamorphoses of
Malcolm X, the fulminations of the Black Panthers, [... or the] rhe-
toric of James Baldwin [... ], but while routinely calling the roll”
(p. 154). The tone used to characterize these figures of the civil
rights movement (and the language they use), although not entirely
negative, is certainly not commendatory. The term “fulminations”
he employs to describe the discourse of the Black Panthers quite
reasonably conveys the vituperative manner in which they pursued
their racially guided political objectives. But used in this isolated
way, without mentioning the context of politicized racism in which
their discourse was employed, the term carries a sense of spontane-
ous and fanatically disproportionate aggression. Such an omission
is, of course, consistent with Silk’s habits for eliding and “remaining
silent” about certain topics, particularly those concerning the civil
rights struggle he must have witnessed from afar. His description of
James Baldwin appears even more emotive and unduly dismissive.
The term “rhetoric” does not flagrantly misrepresent Baldwin’s style.
However, given that the adjective has (rather unfortunately) come
to carry negative associations with superficial verbal posturing or
cynical acts of persuasion through intelligent but questionable argu-
mentation, the term also leans toward the derisory. The close syn-
onym “eloquence,” which also conveys the notion of sophisticated
language use, could easily have been employed without risking such
negative connotations; but the flow of Silk’s utterance thus far sug-
gests that he is entirely aware of the critical tone his words evoke.
The idea that Silk feels ashamed for having avoided participating
in the civil rights movement is voiced in vague but striking terms by
Zuckerman when he declares, “No wonder the accusation of racism
blew him sky high. As though his accomplishment were rooted in
nothing but shame” (p. 335). This suggestion that “shame” underlies
Silk’s contempt for political correctness (which is, of course, an insti-
tutional expression of the civil rights legacy) is given more credibility