A book cover with an image of james baldwin.

The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin, 1962 

More than fifty years have passed since Baldwin’s book was required reading for me as I approached Freshman Orientation at Harvard in the fall of 1963, but little has changed for America’s Black population.  Yes, Harvard’s lecture halls have at least ten times the number of black and brown faces as when I started and yes, as Baldwin quotes Robert Kennedy’s prediction that we would have a Black president within 40 years, Barack and Michelle Obama live in the White House, but Ferguson, Michael Brown, Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Donald Trump show that while gains have been made, the basic fear and discrimination which characterizes White/Black relations in this country have changed little.  The first chapter is a letter to his 14 year old nephew and is so similar to Coates letter to his son that it is uncanny—be careful, do not let them define you, you have worth and value despite their attempts to limit your potential.  The second chapter feels a bit dated with references to Elijah Mohammed’s Nation of Islam and their desire for a separate nation, but it still is relevant to the attitudes and discrimination that face African-Americans today, a group that is unique in its history and current situation. Baldwin addressed this problem by becoming an expat, moving to St Paul de Vence when he was 24 though he made frequent visits to the US for civil rights efforts in the 1960’s and 70’s. This was a worthwhile return to a book read 53 years ago by a different young man.