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Two Speeches By James Baldwin
The Fire THIS Time
Until recently, I never realized James Baldwin ever gave speeches. We often hear acceptable snippets of Martin Luther King’s speeches about having a dream and imagining little Black Boys and girls holding hands with white children, but not so much those taking a hard look at America.
James Baldwin gave this speech in 1963 to a group of teachers. He took his message worldwide, but we don’t hear much about it. I’ll leave the why to others.
“Every white citizen of this country will have to accept the fact that he is not innocent. And that those dogs and those hoses, those crimes are being committed in your name.”
The beginnings of this country have nothing whatever to do with the myths we have created about it. The country did not come about because a handful of people in Europe said, “I want to be free” and promptly built a boat or raft and crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Not at all. Not at all.
The people who settled the country, the people who came here, came here for one reason — no matter how disguised — they came here because they thought it would be better here than where they were. That’s why they came, and that’s the only reason that they came.
