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The Fire Next Time

James Baldwin

Start date: February 1, 2020

Finish date: February 29, 2020

Discussion: Monthly Bonus Reads

Why we're reading this: February Bonus Read- Black History Month

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
[close] February Bonus Read- Black History Month

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

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What Members Thought

Jan 24, 2018 Tippy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: race, religion, 2018

High level of intelligence married to zero fucks given. 5 stars. He handles very difficult topics with exceptional clarity.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

“White Americans find it as difficult as white people elsewhere do to divest themselves of the notion that they are in possession of some intrinsic value that black people need, or want. And this assumption-which, for example, makes the solution to the Negro problem depend on the speed with which Negroes accept and adopt white standar High level of intelligence married to zero fucks given. 5 stars. He handles very difficult topics with exceptional clarity.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

“White Americans find it as difficult as white people elsewhere do to divest themselves of the notion that they are in possession of some intrinsic value that black people need, or want. And this assumption-which, for example, makes the solution to the Negro problem depend on the speed with which Negroes accept and adopt white standards- is revealed in all kinds of way, from Bobby Kennedy’s assurance that a Negro can become President in forty years to the unfortunate tone of warm congratulation with which so many liberals address their Negro equals. It is the Negro, of course who is presumed to have become equal- an achievement that not only proves the comforting fact that perseverance has no color but also overwhelmingly corroborates the white man’s sense of his own value. Alas, this value can scarcely be corroborated in any other way; there is certainly little enough in the white man’s public or private life that one should desire to imitate.”

Daaaaamn. That was the best drop the mic moment, but here are some other good ones:

“In any case, white people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived, had no moral ground on which to stand. They had the judges, the juries, the shotguns, the law- in a word, power. But it was a criminal power, to be feared but not respected, and to be outwitted in any way whatever. And those virtues preached but not practiced by the white world were merely another means of holding Negroes in subjection.”

“It is so simple a fact and one that is so hard, apparently, to grasp: Whoever debases others is debasing himself. That is not a mystical statement but a most realistic one, which is proved by the eyes of any Alabama sheriff-and I would not like to see Negroes ever arrive at so wretched a condition.”

“The white man’s unadmitted- and apparently, to him, unspeakable- private fears and longings are projected onto the Negro. The only way he can be released from the Negro’s tyrannical power over him is to consent, in effect, to become black himself, to become part of that suffering and dancing country that he now watches wistfully from the heights of his lonely power and, armed with spiritual traveler’s checks, visits surreptitiously after dark. How can one respect, let alone adopt, the values of a people who do not, on any level whatever, live the way they say they do, or the way they say they should? I cannot accept the proposition that the four-hundred-year travail of the American Negro should result merely in his attainment of the present level of the American civilization. I am far from convinced that being released from the African witch doctor was worthwhile if I am now- in order to support the moral contradictions and the spiritual aridity of my life- expected to become dependent on the American psychiatrist. It is a bargain I refuse. The only thing white people have that black people need, or should want, is power- and no one holds power forever. White people cannot, in the generality, be taken as models of how to live. Rather, the white man is himself in sore need of new standards, which will release him from his confusion and place him once again in fruitful communion with the depths of his own being. And I repeat: The price of liberation of the white people is the liberation of the blacks- the total liberation, in the cities, in the towns, before the law, and in the mind. Why, for example- especially knowing the family as I do- I should want to marry your sister is a great mystery to me. But your sister and I have every right to marry if we wish to, and no one has the right to stop us. If she cannot raise me to her level, perhaps I can raise her to mine.”

“That man who is forced each day to snatch his manhood, his identity, out of the fire of human cruelty that rages to destroy it knows, if he survives his effort, and even if he does not survive it, something about himself and human life that no school on earth- and indeed, no church- can teach. He achieves his own authority, and that is unshakable. This is because, in order to save his life, he is forced to look beneath appearances, to take nothing for granted, to hear the meaning behind the words. If one is continually surviving the worst that life can bring, one eventually ceases to be controlled by a fear of what life can bring; whatever it brings must be borne. And at this level of experience one’s bitterness begins to be palatable, and hatred becomes too heavy a sack to carry. The apprehension of life here so briefly and inadequately sketched has been the experience of generations of Negroes, and it helps to explain how they have endured and how they have been able to produce children of kindergarten age who can walk through mobs to get to school.”
...more

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Sep 04, 2023 Rose rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, non-fiction, quick-read, reference, cultural, essays, read-in-2023

Quick review for a quick read - my first full review in a little while. My motivation for picking up James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" was a simple one. I found that this was a short, searingly critical read that meets the moment despite how long ago it was written (1963). This was the first time that I read the book of two essays in full rather than getting quotations that were selected from it - though they were powerful ones even when taken apart from the text. I'm glad I finally had the o Quick review for a quick read - my first full review in a little while. My motivation for picking up James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" was a simple one. I found that this was a short, searingly critical read that meets the moment despite how long ago it was written (1963). This was the first time that I read the book of two essays in full rather than getting quotations that were selected from it - though they were powerful ones even when taken apart from the text. I'm glad I finally had the opportunity to read it in full.

I go back and forth between giving this 4 and 4.5 stars - it's a timely read that even applies to the condition of the United States today when it comes to recognizing the history and perception of Black people. A fact that I'm saddened by, as it feels little has changed and the nation seems to be quickly backsliding as a part of contemporary events, making it ever more vital for me to pick this up. Baldwin starts off this collection with a letter to his nephew ("My Dungeon Shook - Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation") detailing the struggles he will face because of his identity as Black on the 100th anniversary of emancipation. It's a letter of love, which encourages his nephew to not be defined by the perceptions and labels put against him and speaking of finding strength and love of self despite how white society may label and try to contain him in. I definitely felt that in reading it, it could not only be a letter to his nephew (who so happens to be named James), but also just as well be addressed to himself as a young Black boy.

The second essay - "Down at the Cross- Letter from a Region in My Mind" details Baldwin's experiences with religion both with Christianity and his work as - and departure from - a pastor, but also his meeting with Elijah Muhammad and reflections from the Nation of Islam as pertaining to the Black community. I found this section rather illuminating because Baldwin doesn't hold back from noting the issues he's seen with people's embrace of religion and religious principles, and the contradiction existing for wanting equality while noting disparities and struggles for power that don't recognize the disenfranchisement and dehumanization done in its name. I think it hits differently with me now that I'm older and can recognize his words with the parallels of issues that are prevalent today. But I think the fact that he's very direct and succinct about the expansion has always struck home with me.

It can be easy to act in anger and rage to those that use various means to oppress you, Baldwin states (and I'm paraphrasing) in musings here, but teaching love and recognition of the factors that contribute to that oppression is hard. He stresses recognizing that is key, even when the oppressors (white people) don't recognize it themselves. Baldwin hit it out of the park with so many quotable lines here that I'd probably spend most of this space simply citing them.

This is a text I would recommend for how well and timeless it is, both in relating his own personal experiences while also providing apt social commentary. We have to know our past in order to reckon with the present, and it was as true then in 1963 as it is now in 2023, the year I'm reading this. I hope more people can pick up this book, and I look forward to reading and reflecting more on Baldwin's work as well.

Overall score: 4.5/5 stars. ...more

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Feb 19, 2019 Krissy rated it really liked it

I saw a clip for the documentary "I am not your Negro," and although I haven't made time to watch it in full (it's on my list), I did decide to pick up a Baldwin book since I typically make more time to read than watch in general.

I think I appreciated this book more because I recently read The Warmth of Other Suns (Wilkerson). That book has given context to the 20th century and Civil Rights movement that I just did not have previously. His disappointments with Harlem and interactions with the po ...more

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