The Evidence of Things Not Seen


The Evidence of Things Not Seen is a non-fiction book by James Baldwin about the 1979–1981 Atlanta Murders, primarily referred to as the Atlanta Child Murders. Baldwin began writing the book after receiving a letter from Walter Lowe, the first black editor at Playboy. By the early 1980s, Playboy had curated a thorough category of work featuring civil rights issues and critical stories from black writers such as Alex Haley and James Farmer. Lowe continued this tradition by approaching Baldwin and proposing that he travel to Atlanta to write a story concerning the city's missing children. Baldwin agreed to the proposal and delved into the case as a literary reporter.
The book's epigraph, from which the title is drawn, is Hebrews 11:1.

Background

Baldwin's collection of work is known for its comprehensive social observations. While researching the Atlanta Child Murders, Baldwin comes across a woman named Camille Bell, the mother of 15-year-old Jo-Jo Bell killed during this time. Bell created a Committee to Stop Children's Murders, which advocated for the murdered children and the affected families. According to Derrick Bell, who wrote the foreword in the 1995 edition of The Evidence of Things Not Seen, the outcry revealed the need for Baldwin to compose an essay that “eschews a search for clues and, instead, undertakes an exploration for truths.”]

Summary

Race Relations

The investigation into the Atlanta Child Murders was overseen by then police commissioner Lee Brown. Fear was heightened around the city and people grew anxious and more concerned as time passed. Lee held several city meetings during this time period hoping to calm public fear and reinstate public trust in the police to find the murderer. Lee brought together a task force of more than 100 personnel from Atlanta's own police force and nearby, governing law-enforcement agencies.
During the tenure of Brown as Atlanta's police commissioner, efforts rose to diversify Atlanta's police force, which at the time was only 20% African-American officers. The same Atlanta police force in the late 1940s hired its first African-American police officers; however, it stripped them of enforcing all laws; for instance, black officers were not allowed to arrest white people.
Baldwin remarks not only on the relationship between the African-American community and the police, but specifically, the relationship between said community and African-American police-officers. Some of Atlanta's black officers were Baldwin's guides while reporting in the city, which allowed for Baldwin to observe the officers reactions to the community's view of the black police force. Baldwin compares the relationship between the police and the community in Atlanta to that of his hometown, Harlem. In Harlem, the black officers understood the community distrusted them but Baldwin remarks that it did not matter, and compares this to Atlanta's black officers, who received the same sentiment from their own community, but Baldwin writes, "the knowledge seemed to sting."

A City Too Busy to Care

On June 21, 1981, Wayne Williams was arrested on the murders of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Payne. His trial commenced on January 6, 1982. The judge overseeing his trial was Clarence Cooper. Baldwin gives his readers background information on Cooper, which details the then District Attorney, Lewis Slaton, as the person aiding in the development of Atlanta's Black legal workers as well as often guiding the prosecution during cases. Baldwin considers information regarding Wayne Williams' upbringing and states the importance of the fact that Wayne Williams was never legally accused of committing 28 murders and that Wayne Williams "must be added to the list of Atlanta's slaughtered black children".
Baldwin discusses that Cooper was born in Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta. Baldwin states if Cooper wanted to, he could say that, "I'm from Atlanta. I'm not from Georgia." Following this statement, Baldwin mentions the original analogy made about Harlem: "I'm from Harlem. I'm not from New York." Baldwin asserts the clarity of the claim while stating that both cities are not nations. Baldwin references his own personal interactions with friends in Atlanta who assume the same identity of belonging to a city outside of the nation it belongs to. Baldwin continues in his researching of understanding Atlanta by reporting how the city came into existence, as a railroad town named Terminus. In the 1980s, Atlanta was known as host to one of the "world's busiest" airports. Baldwin remarks on the success of Atlanta as a commercial hub to highlight what the city placed importance on — being "The City Too Busy To Hate."
Baldwin's critical analysis on the Atlanta Child Murders sparked substantial interest and intrigue surrounding the case. Many citizens began to demand reform for missing child cases in Atlanta after further supporting evidence from the murders were shared with the general public. In 1991, Journal Constitution released the composite list of names and ages of the victims. Within the two month investigative period, Wayne Williams was convicted and tried for the Atlanta Child Murders after being connected to two of the victims. Subsequently, he was immediately indited and sentenced to life, despite his two victims being adults. However, over the years there has been significant backlash over the sole involvement of Williams. Many citizens have speculated other theories concerning the Atlanta Child Murders based on circumstantial evidence, including involvement of the KKK, convicted pedophiles, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the CIA. In 2019, after a news report on the Atlanta Child Murders, a considerable amount of new evidence surfaced from testimonies that created a new wave of interest from Atlanta's mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms.

The Committee to Stop Children's Murders

Camille Bell was a young mother to a 9 year old boy named Yusuf Bell. Yusuf’s body was found in a crawlspace in an abandoned elementary school that had been empty for over five years. When Bell attempted to contact police about the investigation concerning her son’s death, she was ignored. Bell and a large number of mothers formed a "support group" that soon turned into the Committee to Stop Children’s Murders. This Committee sought out to find the individual responsible for the Atlanta Child Murders. By the time the Committee was formed in May 1980, eight children had been murdered and their killer remained at large.
Baldwin praised Bell for her extensive knowledge of the murders, mentioning that he did not interview Bell out of respect. The Committee to Stop Children's Murders began collecting funds to further help the parents of the murdered children continue their venture. As a result, the state of Georgia charged them of having "violated Georgia law as concerned charitable solicitations."

Critical reception

In the 1985 New York Times review, John Flemming gives a brief synopsis of the Child Murders. He acknowledges Baldwin's account of the grotesque nature of not only the murders themselves, but the state of race relations in America. Flemming writes about Baldwin's sentiment where during his investigations and research he felt like a stranger in the city of Atlanta. His repeated mention of Baldwin's assessment of Wayne Williams's trial reflects a major part of his essay, where Baldwin acknowledges Williams's behavior as abnormal, but he still believed the trial to be a focus of skepticism.
In Richard Schur's review of Baldwin's work, he ties the essay's publication date in the 1980s as part of a collective effort by intellectuals and activists to criticize the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's legal strategy in garnering freedom and equality for African-Americans. Schur canvases Baldwin's disposition concerning the failure of legal activists to realize that eradicating legal, racist doctrines were insufficient in rehabilitating the lives of African Americans. Moreover, Schur states that Baldwin believed evaluating the evidence during the Civil Rights Movement would have been more practical than eradicating racist laws, which would have been able to dissolve conditioning taking place between courts, judges and juries.