Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
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Ray Hollar-Gregory
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James Baldwin
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Ray
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Aug 02, 2020 08:24AM
Today is James Baldwin’s 96th birthday. In his honor let’s make a thread of his quotes. I’ll start: “The black man has functioned in the white man's world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar: and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations.”
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"We don't know enough about ourselves. I think it's better to know that you don't know, that way you can grow with the mystery as the mystery grows in you. But, these days, of course, everybody knows everything, that's why so many people are so lost." - If Beale Street Could Talk
Mod
This one is quite familiar but never out of style.
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. ...”
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” ― The Fire Next Time
“Don’t let it make you bitter. Try to understand. Try to understand. The world’s already bitter enough, we got to try to be better than the world.” - Another Country
👏🏽👏🏽 I am watching “I am Not Your Negro” on Netflix
@Ray didn't know it was on Netflix I'll have to check it out
"Well then," he continued, "as though with enough time and all that fearful energy and virtue you people have, everything will be settled, solved, put in its place. And when I say everything," he added, grimly, "I mean all the serious, dreadful things, like pain and death and love, in which you Americans do not believe."(Giovanni's Room)
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”A few minutes ago I read this article via The Conscious Kid:
Today is James Baldwin’s birthday. We interviewed his niece, Aisha Karefa-Smart, about her beloved “Uncle Jimmy” and the biggest lessons she took away from her relationship with him.
“One of the things that my uncle always used to tell us was, “Everything that I’m doing, I’m doing for you.” He was so committed to making sure that the next generation, his nieces and nephews, had a different reality.”
https://www.theconsciouskid.org/littl...
Mod
You could easily pull 50 quotes alone from The First Next Time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...Hopefully that takes you to the Washington Post video where James Baldwin asks "What is Liberty?" It's the one where he calls the statue of liberty a bitter joke for Black people. But more interesting than that is everything he says leading up to that and, of course, Burns' historical teaching about how we came to have all of these statues about "myth" rather than knowing actual history. It's a quick short piece (5-6 minutes) I found it a perfect capsule to understand how we got to where we are today, how the US reacts when myths are sripped away.
Coincidentally, I was reading Teju Cole's "Known and Strange Things", book of essays on Baldwins' birthday. A number of his essays deal with his legacy. Cole spent time in the village of Leukerbad, Switzerland, where Baldwin wrote his first novel, retracing his footsteps. Cole posits that Baldwin was depressed and lonely, escaping his treatment in America, where "From all available evidence no Black Man had ever set foot in this tiny Swiss village before I came". Cole believes that the title for the book, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" come not from the familiar gospel song but from Baldwin having no one else to tell his story to other than the Swiss mountains he was surrounded by. Hmmm..
In another interesting bit of trivia in the essays, Baldwin, takes Robert Kennedy to task for saying America might be ready, in 1965, for a Black President in 40 years, with these words, "We were here for 400 years, and now he tells us that maybe in 40 years, if we are good,we may let you be president".
It was 2005 forty years later. Obama was elected in 2008.
William wrote: "Coincidentally, I was reading Teju Cole's "Known and Strange Things", book of essays on Baldwins' birthday. ... Cole believes that the title for the book, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" come not from the familiar gospel song but from Baldwin having no one else to tell his story to other than the Swiss mountains he was surrounded by."I found that quite persuasive when I read that one. (It remains a favorite to pick up and read.) I dunno why I felt it was so persuasive. I guess I was predisposed to think that? Anyway, the POTUS thing is both infuriating and spooky...
