"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." - James Baldwin

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Fakeness

Allah make us from the sincere!

Being in the pulpit was like being in the theatre; I was behind the scenes and knew how the illusion was worked. I knew the other ministers and knew the quality of their lives. And I don't mean to suggest by this the "Elmer Gantry" sort of hyprocrisy, concerning sensuality; it was a deeper, deadlier, and more subtle hypocrisy than that...I knew how to work on a congregation until the last dime was surrendered - it was not very hard to do - and I knew where the money for "the Lord's work" went. I knew, though, I did not wish to know it, that I had no respect for the people with whom I worked. I could not have said it then, but I also knew that if I continued I would soon have no respect for myself." (38)

From James Baldwin's "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind" (1962) fromThe Fire Next Time

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Baldwin: if the word integration means anything...

And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must be. (9-10)

From James Baldwin's "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" (1962) fromThe Fire Next Time

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Deep Baldwin quote from Letter to Nephew

There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatsoever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know. To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. In this case, the danger, in the minds of most white Americans, is the loss of their identity. (8-9)

From James Baldwin's "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" (1962) fromThe Fire Next Time

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Baldwin quote - Know whence you came

"Know whence you came. If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go." (8)

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James Baldwin quote - Love

From James Baldwin's "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" (1962) from The Fire Next Time:

Well, you were born, here you came, something like fifteen years ago; and though your father and mother and grandmother, looking about the streets through which they were carrying you, staring at the walls into which they brought you, had every reason to be heavyhearted, yet they were not. For here you were, Big James, named for me - you were a big baby, I was not - here you were; to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world. Remember that: I know how black it looks today, for you. It looked bad that day, too, yes, we were trembling. We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived. And now you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your children's children. (6-7)

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James Baldwin Quote

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." -pg. 9, Notes of a Native Son

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