The Fire Next Time James Baldwin writes about his childhood in Harlem. Baldwin was 14 years old when he began to see Harlem differently. He realized that the evil influences of the streets were gradually trying to overtake him. His father was a strong supporter of his views and advised him that he was going down that same path as his peers. Only the good church-goers and girls who saw street influence were able to block these influences. They wanted to be god’s savior by marrying the souls and saving the boys. Baldwin could have been influenced by the streets in many ways. If he was not willing to give up, it could have made Baldwin’s life worse.
James Baldwin seeks to understand if shaping, protecting and defending our identities are more important than achieving human humanity. James Baldwin believes that humanity was the ability to love and accept others as they are. Our identities are an essential part of human existence. Some aspects can be related to. It helps us to be able to navigate the world and in our social lives. The same identity gives you the ability to instantly connect with someone. Our identities can tell us who and what we are, but sometimes they are not formed by us. James Baldwin’s book reveals how the identity of African-Americans was not formed by them, but rather by the white liberals of the US. The easiest way white people had shaped African Americans identity was when they took the last names of their ancestors and gave them their own. Baldwin is an example of this. Most African-Americans don’t know who their last name is or where they come from. It tells them that their last name is an indication of how they were treated during dark times in their history. This knowledge of African-American identity explains why Elijah Muhammad changed the name of his father and founded the Nation of Islam movement. Elijah wanted his roots to be rediscovered and not to convert to Christianity. The African’s who came before the colonial period believed in Islam. Elijah Muhammad wanted a new identity. He didn’t want to be relegated to the identity of white men. Elijah’s new Identity has led to him losing some of the humanity that he once had. The Nation of Islam is not his new ideology. He doesn’t love white men. They are only willing to give him up. “But the officers were not doing anything now. It was obvious that they were not becoming more human. This was due to their fear and being under orders. They were indeed, and it was a joy to see. In their Cub Scout uniforms and their Cub Scout faces, there they stood, in pairs, threes and even fours. They might have been pitied if they weren’t for me putting my hands in their hands so many times. I also learned through painful experience what it was like to be in their shoes when power was yours. I was also forced to reconsider the message and the behavior of the crowd.
The police in the quote above are trying to stop The Nation of Islam ideals from being accepted by them. They also want to prevent The Nation of Islam from giving up its ideals. The police and authorities aren’t doing this to accept The Nation of Islam ideals and demands. They are holding them back because they fear what will happen if they respond by doing the same thing they did to all black movements in the past. The Nation of Islam movement is unique in that it does not seek a peaceful solution, but demands that the white men give them land for their community. They also want to become self-governing. The Nation of Islam seems to believe that African Americans may resort violence to attack their white counterparts. The Nation of Islam’s Elijah ideology is so rigid that it makes it difficult for white men not to fear the African Americans. Elijah cannot accept white men. This is what has caused him to lose his humanity.
James Baldwin grew up in Harlem as a Christian, just like his father. Baldwin didn’t want to be Christian. Baldwin was not exposed to other religions as a child, so he never had the opportunity to learn about them. Baldwin’s identity was formed by Christianity. “He took me to his Church one Saturday afternoon. It was a Saturday afternoon without services. The church was empty with the exception of a few women cleaning up and others praying. To meet his pastor, a friend led me to the back room. In her robes, she smiled, an extremely proud woman. Her face was a mixture of Africa, Europe, America, and the Americas. At this point, she was probably forty-five to fifty years old. She was also a well-known woman in the world. My friend was about introducing me to her when she turned her head and asked me, “Whose little boy?” This was unbelievably the phrase that pimps and racketeers used on Avenue Avenue when they suggested, both humourously and passionately, that I “hangout” with them. The fact that I longed to be someone else’s little boy may have contributed to some of my terror. Baldwin, a Harlem-born black man, was mistakenly viewed as a Christian. He was also a member of another church. Baldwin was struck by the way the pastor asked Baldwin who his little boy is. This prompted him to think about what pimps or racketeers might say to him. Baldwin felt as if the churches owned him simply because he is a Christian. Baldwin feels like a slave because of his Christian identity. Baldwin believes that, if he weren’t a Christian somebody would have taken Baldwin’s place anyways. Harlem has a short auction block so you can’t stay there for too long.
“But it was neither malicious nor condemnatory. I felt a strong sense that they knew me, but I didn’t know how to tell them. They waited patiently for me to learn the truth. Because I couldn’t go anywhere else. I was black so I was part of Islam. This would save me from the Holocaust that lies ahead for the white world. Baldwin felt the same way while he was having dinner with Elijah Muhammad. Elijah saw Baldwin just as the pastor did. They didn’t care much about Baldwin’s identity, they just gave him another one simply because he wasn’t black. Baldwin thought that they didn’t care much about Baldwin or what his opinions were about him. Baldwin knows who Baldwin is and how he fits in with the world. We must shape and defend our identities to achieve our humanity. It’s wrong to sacrifice our identity so we can be loved and accepted. In your core, you know that you are living an illusion in order to receive love and acceptance from others. James Baldwin suggests that every person must give up all attachments to their past identities.
“Rather, the whiteman is in desperate need of new standards. This will help him get out of his confusion and bring him back into a fruitful comm m unity with his deepest being. I say again: The price to be liberated by whites is their liberation from the blacks. That includes freedom in the cities, in towns, before the law, in their minds, and everywhere in between. My question is why, in particular knowing my sister’s family, I would want to marry her sister. Your sister is free to marry me if she wishes, and nobody can stop her. She may not be able raise me to my level. I might be able raise her mine.
Baldwin is asking white men not to be identified because they control how they see others. They also have a tendency to think less highly of African Americans, for instance. African Americans would be free to discover their identity if they stopped thinking like this. This will allow people to set their own standards. This is a demanding request that both sides must meet. This would make the white people feel very outcast and would scare them off. This feeling can be eliminated if everyone does it. Although the African Americans might feel some resentment towards whites, acceptance of them by them will make their lives easier and help them find their identity. Acceptance is the only path to humanity.
