Supremacy and Power
James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time is an eye opening and progressive exposé of racism in American society. Baldwin through his simple writing style, careful tone, and impartial analysis masterfully crafts an essay that both white and black can relate to in a time where the mixing of black and whites was illegal. Baldwin provides an in depth look of racism through a black man’s eyes as well challenges popular black supremacy ideas in order to promote equality. The Fire Next Time not only illuminates the oppression of the African American community, but demands action from both black and whites in order to create a homogenous society that Martin Luther King Jr. talks about in his “I have a dream speech”.
Baldwin begins his …show more content…
The introduction to this quote is another discussion of Elijah’s extreme black supremacy views. Baldwin defends the idea of whites and black marrying as well as sees blacks and white as equal; therefore, he is in essence trying to defend equality. The dinner table metaphor perfectly summarizes the scenario in which he is in, except he is a black man trying to defend white America’s humanity. This quote brings me back to my experience at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Southern Maryland. I had never truly experienced racism openly until I went to the Mount. I had a black roommate and I quickly became friends with all her friends none of whom were white but I didn’t truly notice or even gave it a second thought. After a couple weeks I tried to talk to some girls on my hall who were white and they called me the “black girl”. I was taken aback and asked them what that meant. They crudely interrogated me, demanding to know as to why all my friends were black and if I was part black, as if I needed to be to maintain a friendship with a different ethnicity. I at that moment felt like Baldwin at the table with the nation of Islam members. I was appalled and at a loss for words because it was as if I had to explain that blacks were not subhuman and could be friends with whites. It was 2012, in an academic university and I had to defend my friendship to other educated students as if the civil rights movement had never taken place. This incident illuminates how Baldwin’s writings though written many years ago are still extremely relevant and that racism absolutely exists in today’s
James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time is an eye opening and progressive exposé of racism in American society. Baldwin through his simple writing style, careful tone, and impartial analysis masterfully crafts an essay that both white and black can relate to in a time where the mixing of black and whites was illegal. Baldwin provides an in depth look of racism through a black man’s eyes as well challenges popular black supremacy ideas in order to promote equality. The Fire Next Time not only illuminates the oppression of the African American community, but demands action from both black and whites in order to create a homogenous society that Martin Luther King Jr. talks about in his “I have a dream speech”.
Baldwin begins his …show more content…
The introduction to this quote is another discussion of Elijah’s extreme black supremacy views. Baldwin defends the idea of whites and black marrying as well as sees blacks and white as equal; therefore, he is in essence trying to defend equality. The dinner table metaphor perfectly summarizes the scenario in which he is in, except he is a black man trying to defend white America’s humanity. This quote brings me back to my experience at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Southern Maryland. I had never truly experienced racism openly until I went to the Mount. I had a black roommate and I quickly became friends with all her friends none of whom were white but I didn’t truly notice or even gave it a second thought. After a couple weeks I tried to talk to some girls on my hall who were white and they called me the “black girl”. I was taken aback and asked them what that meant. They crudely interrogated me, demanding to know as to why all my friends were black and if I was part black, as if I needed to be to maintain a friendship with a different ethnicity. I at that moment felt like Baldwin at the table with the nation of Islam members. I was appalled and at a loss for words because it was as if I had to explain that blacks were not subhuman and could be friends with whites. It was 2012, in an academic university and I had to defend my friendship to other educated students as if the civil rights movement had never taken place. This incident illuminates how Baldwin’s writings though written many years ago are still extremely relevant and that racism absolutely exists in today’s