Staying power: Manhattan Beach’s Malissia Clinton finds strength in spirit of community

James Baldwin’s 1955 essay “Notes of a Native Son,” recounts a particularly hectic week in the author’s life that includes the death of his father, the birth of his youngest sister, his own birthday, the outbreak of the Harlem riot of 1943 and, finally, his father’s burial. Though much of the essay is concerned with distance — his buddin