Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

It seems to me that a large portion of white America today, especially white men, has lost its mind—figuratively, of course. These are the “troubled Americans” that Baldwin referred to in 1969. Still, they are not going to listen; they don’t want to know or hear the truths about the situation of black people. Theirs is a narrow concern, a familiar conceit: For them, this country must remain white. To face this kind of thinking again, in 2020, is profoundly depressing; to see its deadly consequences is frightening. You have to work hard to hold off what W.E.B. Du Bois called the temptation of despair, as we find ourselves fighting this battle over and over again. One can easily say, as my great-grandmother once told me, “You know white folks ain’t gon’ change.” No matter. That fact should not resign us to our fate. We must search for an elsewhere to start anew—to love, to critically assess who we are and who we aspire to be, and to seek refuge in the margins in order to fortify our imaginations so that we can rejoin the battle.