James Baldwin Speaks! The Fire This Time: A Message to Black Youth

[@dewaynesmith6924]

James Baldwin was one of the deepest black men to walk the Earth.

[@vickibleus]

One of the deepest men to walk the earth.

[@humbledpi8227]

Man

[@WaliJpresents]

@23:00 "Everything that you will do in your life and everything that you will say...reveals you. What I call you doesn't say anything about you...or very rarely...but what I call you says everything about me." We all need to accept this before we slap any label on anyone.

[@onemessiah28]

Yessss

[@ItsAnEndlessWorld]

Very well said.

[@paulsmulson8506]

wali jamal f

[@kennydawson265]

Excellence!

[@paulyoung6494]

Words .

[@scottash351]

James Baldwin's words are truly timeless. It's sad more people don't know him for he spoke with more integrity then the total sum of all the talking heads out there today. I wonder if any person here listening was there for this speech?

[@walterhunter3353]

I have read and heard several past black thinkers, but never heard of this man. Thanks for posting

[@sspicmi]

+Walter Hunter Read everything he has written and you will see that this country did not have to wait until now to 'solve' racial segregation. Then read entire Toni Morrison's canon and study all you can find out about Michael Jackson. Anybody who surrounds these artists. Who celebrated them, who ignored them, who fought to destroy or suppress them. Then you may see how far we still have to go and how 'ignorance' and false complicity are marketed under a disguise of 'progress,.'

[@bteiv676]

better late...

[@angelabluebird609]

We can spread the word-and the wisdom.

[@alshaw3781]

Would have been great to have him as a teacher.

[@acajudi100]

He is still here in books and lectures.

[@angelabluebird609]

...and we can tell our friends and families.

[@ReelCoast79]

Never too late....✌🏾

[@turavalphacygni6234]

Read to become self teacher.

[@commonman3248]

@@ReelCoast79 facts!!

[@sahinduezguen]

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."

[@ninawestlake5005]

THIS MAN IS BEYOND AMAZING. SO VERY INTELLIGENT.

[@veeseee128]

My quote for the day: "If u tell a person a lie long enough they will believe it.""So know one is born inferior they are taught to be inferior. "

[@tnote2947]

Amen

[@ahmadahmed214]

Yes, your goal in this world is not about making money but knowledge and morals, know facts and the truth it holds. Truth will set you free also it can break you cause you've believed in liar for too long .

[@charmanehenderson4625]

Greatness !

[@doubled6419]

WHAT UP? That what you quoted is a tough piece.

[@princewilcox4235]

How am i just now discovering this brilliant king...saddens me deeply

[@trucksdad]

As I walk and listen to Mr. Baldwin I found myself drifting back to many of the lessons of my grandfather, father and uncles taught me as a young man in the 70's and early 80's that I now teach my son in 2020. Know without a doubt who you are and stand firm on that knowledge of self. Mr. Baldwin's thoughts and intellect is truly for the ages and still rings true today.

[@keydaniels]

His depiction of education as it exist in our society in contrast to what education is, is remarkable and shook me to my core.

[@lambiqueen6696]

He was a legend and visionary writer..

[@marvinedwards7011]

He always holds my attention...thank you brother for you intellect.

[@tonystarks9521]

If ah man can't identify with his nature, he is a fool. Black Love=Black Power!

[@dp6970]

“If you give me the child for 5 years, I’ll have him the rest of his life.” POWERFUL statement.🙏🏽❤️ One, that as a mother of a young child and preschool educator, I can certainly identify with and couldn’t agree more.🙌🏽👏🏽 It’s important to teach our little beacons of hope and love all of the right things early on, so that they will be become amazing human beings.❤️

[@lwiggins2able]

He is incredible!!!

[@kimberlywright4988]

My writing mentor...Baldwin the reason why I love to read....the reason I read my first book completely from cover to cover...Mr. James Baldwin the author of the first book which I read from cover to cover. I totally have adopted his very unique writing style of flashbacks I call it .,when he starts writing a book in the present for the first or half of the first chapter.,..Then in the paragraph that follows going back some years to help the reader to understand how and why the characters ended up where they are.

[@TariusShinobi]

James Baldwin-R.I.P. wrote some great books.

[@dcbandnerd]

"..everything that you will do...everything that you will say reveals you." 22:58 - one of my favorite quotes from Baldwin.

[@cardion411]

I love this man. He has change my life in so many ways. Thank you @ Matthew Siegfried for posting it.

[@ricocargill2216]

What an awesome piece that requires an open and informed mind to appreciate. Great insight that transcends all social boundaries and is applicable to all.

[@randygreenfield4312]

Please find “I am not your negro” it wasn’t in movie theaters long but it was amazing !!!

[@iamyvettehenry]

randy greenfield It was on Amazon Prime a short while ago. I love the documentary and the book/script.

[@raygreenfinger]

Try looking on Netflix or a streaming app. KZbin want you to pay

[@nwatson2773]

randy greenfield it’s on Amazon

[@alspeace]

THAT movie "they" did NOT want us to see.

[@Drewskii88]

It’s on amazon prime video

[@samira537]

Amazing, I am so glad I found this gem!

[@MrValentineMusic]

Banger 🔥

[@kathyscafe]

Thank you for uploading and un-muting this voice!

[@kgee8814]

Baldwin was Prophetic. What he spoke of then is relevant even today.

[@kingsolomon7553]

I'm amazed that I've never heard of this man until 1 or 2 days ago.

[@Menaceblue3]

KZbin works in mysterious ways... Love and peace dude!

[@PhoenixYah]

You generally have to go to college to learn about him not taught in elementary or high school only other way is on your own because you read I was avid reader since a toddler I stayed in library reading it's how I found out about Him I'm 53 54 next month. I read a specific book and years later I met the type of people he wrote about in the book and was amazed that Through reading about Him I learned an essential part of his life through a people.

[@KimSmith-h2y]

Right on!!

[@avigindratt7608]

What hurts is how relevant his words STILL are today. I long for a day when this feels old, when it feels like the past. Until then...

[@lorebay2593]

Exactly my thought this moment.

[@kevinhartwell228]

Malcolm , Baldwin, King and so many others!!! Wish you.were here.

[@charmanehenderson4625]

That speech was a formidable one.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

19:16 "..People are not wicked because they do wicked things... There has nothing that has been done to you that you aren't incapable of doing to someone else... And I don't want to see you do that."

[@EmongTimothy]

Rewind and play

[@saundraoshea8547]

Thank you MR. Baldwin I will listen to you my whole life♥️

[@drwilliams-singh]

Geniuses are rare and precious. As you know this speaker- represents timeless ideas and accuracy of words.thank you for this video-.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

9:14-9:43 Now this is where all of you come in. My responsibility, again, if I am your teacher, is to teach you to think. This is not an easy thing to do. If I want you to think, I must teach you to think about everything. I must teach you that there is a reason for everything you do, and that you must find that reason.

[@austonjackson146]

🌿 HIS WORDS ARE UN-CALIBRATED!👂🔝 I didn't want his speech to be over! (Refresh as to try the overstand the reasoning of there thought process.) Wow, the secondly efforts of digestion of society's blindness to fairness, it is mortally unsettling!

[@erikadavis4696]

Sublime...

[@smoothlyabrasive9805]

Helloooo Erika D

[@samdegoeij6576]

Such a great speaker and such an amazing thinker!

[@mirandabisnou1307]

#Matthew Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this PIECE OF TREASURE!!!💖👍🏼

[@finalcall2047]

Brilliantly presented & excellent QA

[@kalvinbarris4246]

This guy is the direct representation for truth

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

11:32-12:13 ...There is no reason for anyone to want to look like a Greek God. That is not the world's only standard of beauty. And furthermore, the virtues to which we all, in one way or another, aspire... a comfortable life, which is to say, a middle class life, are not the only virtues. I come from a very poor family and there is a vast amount of vitality, which is a very definite virtue, to be found in those circumstances.

[@emberverse.eth.]

2:00 words every person should read every day.

[@lifestraight]

12:00 is important 13:00 as well about concrete examples and education Q&A: 14:50 First question begins. 17:57 "Thought is most important. Don't try to be safe. Nobody is ever safe." 21:29 The effects of white culture on Black lives

[@TheBLACKMQQN]

A brilliant strong man. Shame he is not revered and admired as he should be by all but least by his own people

[@mirandabisnou1307]

WHAT A B R I L L I A N T MAN!! 💖👍🏼💓

[@robertl9150]

This was a good person, a fine intellect.

[@jones1351]

'... the war between society and thought,' 11:04 Damn!

[@themilioxperience2427]

When James Baldwin speaks the world need listen.

[@CaravanseraiSouthValley]

TRANSCRIPT of main portion of the speech (to 14:09) One/ A baby is not born with any idea of a society, no sense whatever, of other people, its mother exists principally, in fact entirely, for him or her. And its father exists, somewhat later, entirely for him or her. It’s only much much later that the baby begins to realize that the parent on whom he depended for everything and whom he supposed held up the world, is in fact, just another human being, who was not invented for him. That is on the most primary level, one of the meanings of an education. On another level, it is the only way that one is enabled to enlarge the world. Now, that sounds like a very grandiose phrase. All it means is that when you, for example, begin to read you begin to discover more about the world than you knew before. You discover more about the world in two ways- this is why this is important…. there being, in fact, two worlds. One world is you. That...that...this envelope. I am a world. I am not the only world. That’s the problem. But I am a world. And I am under the obligation to discover whatever it is that goes on in that world. And in order to do that, I have got to consent to become a social animal in order to discover and enlarge what goes on in THIS world, which is all of you and many millions of people both living and dead. Past and to come. And finally- this is where it begins to be difficult- the measure of one’s dignity depends on one’s estimate of one’s self. It really does not depend- as so many people in this country now seem to believe- on someone else’s estimate. It depends first of all on what you take yourself to be, what your real standards are, what you think is right, what you think is wrong, what you think life is all about, what you think life is for. Now you are all very young. And I say that, by the way, with great humility. You are all still unformed. Or let me put it another way: You are not finally formed. And you are still, to put it brutally- I want to put it brutally because I want to make my point absolutely clear- you are still at the mercy of your elders. You are still at the mercy of the standards of your elders. Let us go back again to the whole concept of education. And bear in mind, then that education does not- and can not- occur in a vacuum. It occurs in a social context. It occurs in a social context and it has social ends. For example- to take a very brutal example- the children of the Third Reich were educated by the Third Reich in order to fulfill the purposes of the Third Reich. Hitler did this on a very old principle. The principle referred to by priests and in the Bible, and which every parent somewhere knows...if you give me the child for five years, I’ll have him the rest of his life. So if that is so, then one has to be aware that one of the purposes of education- your responsibility before your educators- is to question the purpose of this education. Let me give you then… your education is occurring within a given context, at a certain time in history, in a certain country, at a certain time in its history. And in fact, [it is] in a very crucial time in its history. If, for example- well, I will be personal about this one- when I was going to school, a school not very unlike this one, though not as pretty, I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history. I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that history had been accomplished without my presence. And this had a very demoralizing effect on me when I was your age and younger, nd had a very demoralizing effect for quite a few years thereafter. Now, that may seem to be trivial. But speaking now as though I were your educator, as if I were your teacher: MY responsibility to you would be invest you with all of the morale that I could to prepare you for the terrible storm that is called life. Terrible and Beautiful. But you must know that it is both. And you don’t quite know it and it is my responsibility to make you know it. It’s my responsibility for you to know, speaking now as your educator, to give you as true a version of your history as I can… since it is through your sense of your own history that you arrive at your identity. And no one has arrived at their sense of their own identity without it. This is why ancestors are important. We- all of us here now- are living through a certain kind of turmoil which endangers all of our relationships. This turmoil is sometimes described as racial. We can use that word for the moment. But it is really not racial. It is historical and it is personal. Let me speak again about the aims of society. As opposed now to the aims of an education. The aims of a society are and always must be to inculcate in its citizens a certain sense of security and to discourage its citizens from disturbing the peace. Now, this is a necessity and it is even an admirable necessity. Because we cannot live without society and society- as a fact- is a very beautiful creation. Nevertheless it is also equally true that all societies have been brought into existence- very painfully and very slowly- by men. And the people who are responsible for the creation of societies must forever ask questions, all questions... taking nothing whatsoever for granted because that is the only way the frontiers of the world fall back and the world- as I said before- begins to be enlarged. So what this means is that all societies are under the obligation to educate all of its citizens. It is also under the obligation to discourage people from thinking too much. Now this is where all of you come in. My responsibility again- if I am your teacher- is to teach you to think. This is not an easy thing to do. If I want you to think, I must teach you to think about everything. I must teach you that there is a reason for everything you do and that you must find that reason. If, for example- and now, I will be personal, I’m afraid, but I mean it in the best possible way- if I were your teacher and let us say I was dealing with one of who, let’s say, happens to be a Negro, about 16 or 17. And I knew that you were beginning to wonder what you were doing in school in the first place. And what waited for you outside, what good was it to be here because nothing here prepared you for what was outside [school]… knowing your bitterness and not trying for a moment to pretend that it is not justified. I would then have to suggest to you that the problems that you face, you have to make them personal. And then I would ask you very rude questions. For example, I would ask you- if you were a boy- why you dressed the way you did and if your hair was cut, I would ask you to ask yourself “WHY?” To come back again, this is a very small example of what I mean, to the war between society and thought: it is your responsibility as young American citizens to understand that the standards by which you are confronted and by which many of you are visibly and obviously victimized, and others of you not so obviously but equally victimized… are not the only standards in the world. There is no reason for anybody to want to look like a Greek god. That is not the world’s only standard of beauty. And furthermore, the virtues to which we all in one way or another aspire- of a comfortable life, which is to say a middle class life- are not the only virtues. I come from a very poor family and there’s a vast amount of vitality, which is a very definite virtue, to be found in those circumstances. Finally, if I were your teachers, I would beg you - to insist you fight with me, and not let me get away with anything. No matter how I may sound, I’m really only mortal. And though I love you very much and feel responsible for you… I’m not always right. We depend on each other, the old and the young, to learn from each other. I would beg you to ask me why, for example, your history books are the way that they are and I would beg you to force me to answer. If you asked me what relevance your education had for concrete problems such as: getting an apartment; moving from one part of town to another. If I were you, I would force ME, I would put me on the spot, ask me the most difficult questions that you can. And I will not be able to answer them. But my responsibility is to hear them. And when you ask your question, any question, you begin to know more about what you really think. That is all I have to say. Now you are going to ask me questions.

[@Ignite2Transform]

Caravanserai South Valley Thank you!

[@teddy9267]

Wow how much time did you spend writing this? 🙂

[@b1ueocean]

Teddy probably not as long as you might imagine, especially since Baldwin has the perfect speaking pace for even slow audio typists. Logically therefore it likely took as long as it took the speaker to speak what was typed 🙂

[@CaravanseraiSouthValley]

@@Ignite2Transform You are most certainly welcome. It is a labor of love to provide for my middle school students!

[@Passingclouds497]

I Love this man

[@mr.clarencecj3491]

Awesome!

[@DarellDavie1]

I Love You Man.💯

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

12:49 I would beg of you to ask me why, for example, your history books are the way they are. And I would beg you to force me to answer, if you asked me what relevance your education has for concrete problems, such as, getting an apartment, moving from what one part of town to another. If I were you, I would force me, I'd put me on the spot, ask me the most difficult questions that you can, and I would not be able to answer them, but my responsibility is to hear them.

[@doggydude4123]

If mentors and educators today would do this, we would be a better society. Instead, they hide behind their cowardice and arrogance through tenure.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

Transcriptions I got to spend the time to receive and process again. May you and I not lose anymore years of our lives. I appreciate cha effort. 9:14-9:43 Now this is where all of you come in. My responsibility, again, if I am your teacher, is to teach you to think. This is not an easy thing to do. If I want you to think, I must teach you to think about everything. I must teach you that there is a reason for everything you do, and that you must find that reason. 11:32-12:13 ...There is no reason for anyone to want to look like a Greek God. That is not the world's only standard of beauty. And furthermore, the virtues to which we all, in one way or another, aspire... a comfortable life, which is to say, a middle class life, are not the only virtues. I come from a very poor family and there is a vast amount of vitality, which is a very definite virtue, to be found in those circumstances. 12:13 Finally, if I were your teacher, I would beg you to insist to fight with me and not let me get away with anything. No matter how I may sound, I am really only mortal and I love you very much and feel responsible for you, I am not always right. We depend on each other, the old and the young to learn from each other. 12:49 I would beg of you to ask me why, for example, your history books are the way they are. And I would beg you to force me to answer, if you asked me what relevance your education has for concrete problems, such as, getting an apartment, moving from what one part of town to another. If I were you, I would force me, I'd put me on the spot, ask me the most difficult questions that you can, and I would not be able to answer them, but my responsibility is to hear them. 13:41 And when you ask your question, any question, you begin to know more about what you really think. That's all I have to say. Now you're going to ask me questions. 14:50 First question. 15:26-16:43 Answer: "Imma try to answer your question as clearly as I can. It is not an easy question to answer. I can say first of all, yes. Yes, but be careful. Find out all you can, but don't find it out with the intention of proving a point. Understand this, there is no reason for you to prove yourself to anybody, except yourself. When the world talks about culture, understand this, it is not talking about culture, it is talking about power. The difference between the African cultures, which have vanished, and the European cultures, which are decaying, is that Europe had the power. And that is the only difference! It is not that Europe was civilized, and Africans were not. That's a lie! You, understand that? (Yeah) And find out all that you can about what happened when you got here. But you haven't got to prove it to anybody. All you got to do is know it. You're a man baby." 18:05 Third question. 18:39-20:25 Answer: "...I was telling my nephew, who was you, let's say, that he had to accept these innocent people and these innocent people are your countrymen, white Americans. I was trying to suggest to you, that, though this may be very hard to understand and always will be, until you die: People are not, wicked because they do wicked things. I know that sounds like a terrible kind of cop out, but the reason that I want to suggest it to you, is because I want you to know, that there nothing that has been done to you, that you aren't capable of doing to someone else. And I do not want to see you do that! I want you, as I was trying to tell our friend over here, to realize that you have nothing to prove, and that whoever doesn't know who you are and whoever is afraid of you is to be pitied. And you can hope to correct him, but beg you not to hate him. As for "Who is innocent and who is guilty?!", nobody knows. Nobody knows. That's the point. That's the best answer that I can give you, but you keep thinking about it." 17:06 Second question 17:19-18:03 Response to the second question. 'What force do you think wins out more often in this war about education, Society or Thought?" 18:05 Third question 18:39-20:25 Response to the third question 19:16 "..People are not wicked because they do wicked things... There has nothing that has been done to you that you aren't incapable of doing to someone else... And I don't want to see you do that." 20:31 Fourth question 20:45-23:50 Response to the fourth question 24:07 Fifth question 24:13-26:46 Response to the fifth question 26:00 And furthermore, I must beg you to remember this; to think about this very carefully. I know how enraged one can be. But at no matter what price. You must try to be clear. You can lose your temper for a second and lose thirty years of your life. 26:49 Sixth question 26:59-28:52 Response to the sixth question 28:59 Seventh question 29:10-30:43 Response to the seventh question 29:08 Question + Answer. Never has burning textbooks, that reinforce the present power structure, sounded so good.

[@darnell607]

Me Baldwin is Pure Genius!!

[@roman2011]

My gosh..what a great mind.

[@t3xasalr3ady77]

The world taught me more than school ever did and the history books in school were only being told from a white person's perspective and I'd wondered why history books never went back before slavery... because of The Truth

[@PhoenixYah]

TRUTH

[@PhoenixYah]

It was always said if you want to hide a thing from blacks put it in a book. God also Hid himself from us in a book because of our unrepentant desires.

[@jaccykasyoki6429]

Pure genius!!!

[@beowolf19751]

One of the basic themes I get from listening to this eloquent man speak, echoes with what one of the ancient biblical godly Prophets whote in dealing with the same social evils of his day was, "AS A MAN THINKETH IN HIS HEART, SO IS HE!"

[@rberliner6680]

The measure of one’s dignity depends on one’s estimate of oneself, not on someone else’s estimate.

[@Alex-pi6jt]

That's another way of saying what my grandmother told me. "Never let someone else opinion become your opinion of yourself."

[@chantellminitee6514]

Speak It Facts I Understand

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

12:13 Finally, if I were your teacher, I would beg you to insist to fight with me and not let me get away with anything. No matter how I may sound, I am really only mortal and I love you very much and feel responsible for you, I am not always right. We depend on each other, the old and the young to learn from each other.

[@leaveblank6542]

requires an open and informed mind to appreciate

[@TheLynx8888]

Such an incredible message...this in my estimation, is real love.

[@lifestraight]

27:50 "The technique of nonviolence has obvious limits, it has this limit:that people are not by nature nonviolent and it would cost you, if you were down there now, a terrible effort from which you might not recover. You have to endure what you would have to endure at the hands of those people. Therefore, your question to be honest with you, finds me very much where you are. I think the entire strategy has got to be rethought in order to minimize the damage to you. I have no yet come up with a satisfactory answer, but I will do my best. And you think about it too. Okay?"

[@RXmusic4YOU]

"...if I were your teacher"....teach brother....teach...

[@yourpalbina]

“The measure of one’s dignity depends on one’s estimate of oneself. It really does not depend, as so many people in this country now seem to believe, on someone else’s estimate. It depends, first of all, on what you take yourself to be, what your real standards are, what you think is right, what you think is wrong, what you think life is all about, what you think life’s for.”

[@paulyoung6494]

Man , he should here now .

[@37Dionysos]

THANKS

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

26:00 And furthermore, I must beg you to remember this; to think about this very carefully. I know how enraged one can be. But at no matter what price. You must try to be clear. You can lose your temper for a second and lose thirty years of your life.

[@DarellDavie1]

That’s right.

[@matthewtrevino525]

To answer the question about strategy in regards to nonviolence, I think one should touch the instruments of the civil courts across the board to see if they're intune.

[@adrienneweiss1754]

TRANSCRIPT One, a baby is not born with any idea of a society, no sense whatever of other people. Its mother exists principally, in fact entirely, for him or her, and its father exists somewhat later, entirely for him or her. It’s only much much later that the baby begins to realize that the parent on whom he depended for everything and who is supposed to have held up the world, is in fact just another human being, who was not invented for him. That is, on the most primary levels, one of the meanings of an education. On another level, it [an education] is the only way that one is enabled to enlarge the world. Now that sounds like a very grandiose phrase. All it means is that when you, for example, begin to read, you discover more about the world than you knew before. You discover more about the world in two ways, and this is why it is important, there being in fact two worlds. One world is you. That this envelope, I am a world. I’m not the only world. That’s the problem, but I am a world and I am under the obligation to discover whatever it is that goes on in that world. And in order to do that, I have got to consent to become a social animal in order to discover and to enlarge what goes on in this world, which is all of you and many, many millions of people, both living and dead, passed and to come. And finally, this is where it begins to be difficult. The measure of one's dignity depends on one's estimate of oneself. It really does not depend, as so many people in this country now seem to believe, on someone else's estimate. It depends, first of all, on what you take yourself to be, what your real standards are, what you think is right, what you think is wrong, what you think life is all about, what you think life is for. Now you are all very young, and I say that by the way with great humility. You are all still unformed, or let me put it in another way way; you are not finally formed. And you are still, to put it brutally, I want to put it brutally because I want to make my point absolutely clear. You are still at the mercy of your elders. You are still at the mercy of the standards of your elders. Let us go back again to the whole concept of education, and bare in mind then that education does not and cannot occur in a vacuum. It occurs in a social context. It occurs in a social context and it has social ends. For example, to take a very brutal example, the children of the Third Reich were educated by the Third Reich in order to fulfill the purposes of the Third Reich. Hitler did this on a very old principle, a principle referred to by priests and in the Bible, and which every parent somewhere knows. If you give me a child five years, I'll have him the rest of his life. So that if that is so, then one has got to be aware, that one of the purposes of an education, your responsibility before your educators, is to question the purpose of this education. Let me give you then your education is occurring within a given context, in a certain time in history, in a certain country, in a certain time in its history, and in fact, at a very crucial time in its history. If for example, well I’ll be personal about this, when I was going to school, not a school very unlike this one, though not as pretty, I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history. I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that history had been accomplished without my presence. And this had a very demoralizing effect on me. When I was your age and younger and had a demoralizing effect for quite a few years years after. Now, that may seem to be trivial, but speaking now as though I were your educator, as though I were your teacher, my responsibility to you would be to invest you with all of the morale that I could to prepare you for the terrible storm which is called life. Terrible and beautiful, but you must know that it is both, and you don't quite know it, and it is my responsibility to make you know it. It is my responsibility also, speaking now as your educator, to give you as true a version of your history as I can, since it is through your sense of your own history that you arrive at your identity. And no one has ever arrived at a sense of his own identity without it. This is why ancestors are important. We, all of us here now, are living through a certain kind of turmoil, which endangers all of our relationships. This turmoil is sometimes described as racial. We can use that word for the moment, but it is really not racial. It is historical and it is personal. Let me speak again about the aims of society, as opposed now to the aims of an education. The aims of a society are and always must be to inculcate in its citizens a certain sense of security and to discourage its citizens from disturbing the peace. Now this is a necessity, and it is even an admirable necessity because we cannot live without society, and society as a fact is a very beautiful creation. Nevertheless it is also equally true that all societies have been brought into existence very painfully and very slowly by men, and the people who are responsible for the creation of a society must forever ask questions, all questions. Take nothing whatever for granted because that is the only way the frontiers of the world fall back, and the world as I said before begins to be enlarged. So that this means, that though a society is under the obligation to educate all of its citizens, it is also under the obligation to discourage people from thinking too much. Now this is where all of you come in. My responsibility again, if I'm your teacher, is to teach you to think. This is not an easy thing to do. If I want you to think, I must teach you to think about everything. I must teach you that there is a reason for everything you do, and that you must find that reason. If for example, now I will be personal I'm afraid, but I mean it in the best possible way. If I were your teacher, and let us say that I was dealing with one of you, who in this case it would be a negro, about 16 or 17, and I knew that you were beginning to wonder what you were doing in school in the first place and what waited for you outside. What good was it to be here since nothing that happened here prepared you for outside? Knowing your bitterness, not trying for a moment to pretend that it is not justified, I would yet have to suggest to you, the problems that you face, you have to make them personal. But then I would ask you very rude questions. For example I would ask you if you were a boy, why you dressed the way you did, and if your hair was conked, I would ask you to ask yourself, “why?” You come back again, this is a very small example of what I mean by the war between society and thought. It is your responsibility, as young American citizens to understand that the standards by which you are confronted, and by which many of you are visibly and obviously victimized, and others of you, not so obviously but equally victimized, are not the only standards in the world. There is no reason for anybody to want to look like a Greek god. That is not the world’s only standard of beauty. And furthermore, the virtues to which we all in one way or another aspire, our comfortable life, which is to say a middle class life, are not the only virtues. I come from a very poor family, and there's a vast amount of vitality which is a very definite virtue, to be found in those circumstances. Finally if I were your teacher, I would beg you to insist to fight with me and not let me get away with anything. No matter how I may sound, I am really only mortal, and though I love you very much and feel responsible for you, I am not always right. We depend on each other, the old and the young, to learn from each other. I would beg you to ask me, why for example your history books are the way they are. And I would beg you to force me to answer, if you asked me what relevance your education had for concrete problems, such as getting an apartment, moving from one part of town to another. If I were you, I would force me, I’d put me on the spot, ask me the most difficult questions that you can, and I will not be able to answer them. And my responsibility is to hear them, and when you ask your question, any question, you begin to know more about what you really think. That's all I have to say. Now you’re going to ask me questions.

[@codyStrode]

I love Baldwin and feel like my students desperately need to know him. Thank you for providing the transcript. I wanted them for a lesson plan I'm making.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

13:41 And when you ask your question, any question, you begin to know more about what you really think. That's all I have to say. Now you're going to ask me questions.

[@leaveblank6542]

requires an open and informed mind to appreciate

[@adrienpolo2255]

❤❤❤

[@judeboss14]

DROP ... FIND URSELF ... EDUCATE YOURSELF.. SAVE YOURSELF ..HELP OTHERS SAVE THEMSELVES.🐍🖤

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

29:08 Question + Answer. Never has burning textbooks, that reinforce the present power structure, sounded so good.

[@johnrutty6029]

I love James regardless of hi sexual orientation.

[@brookxydarasta6439]

What do you mean respectfully

[@Alex-pi6jt]

Wow. OK. Here's an opportunity to offer a little bit of help because I really do think you mean well. When you say things like 'in spite of', 'despite', 'regardless' , something, you have created a peculiar thing. A compliment, wrapped in an insult or an insult wrapped in a compliment, depending on how you look at it. You are saying that despite this trait you perceive as negative, you like him 'anyway'. That negative trait in this instance, is homosexuality. This clearly shows your homophobia whether you realize that or not. It's like all of the comments expressing surprise at this man's brilliance while at the same time, seeming to compliment him. It is not surprising he is articulate, it is surprising that viewers are surprised that he is articulate. He comes from a people who created the first language on Earth, wrote the first word down for others to read, had his language stolen from him and yet still mastered another. We can be impressed by that, awed by that, any number of things, but to be surprised by that is, ironically what he's talking about in the first place.

[@gregsmasochisticcommentfac2244]

"I began to be bugged by the teaching of American History because it seemed that history had been accomplished without my presence & this had a very demoralizing effect on me." I feel like I've been asleep. James Baldwin is my alarm clock. #TheFireThisTime

[@amcgee0668]

Prolific.

[@mpiloenhlesibanda3666]

My job is to make you think about the world around you.

[@turavalphacygni6234]

Read with the understanding you're validating the information being reviewed. Don't read to satisfy a belief or conclusion. Discover the reason behind the belief and conclusion.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

20:31 Fourth question 20:45-23:50 Response to the fourth question

[@kwanculturel8724]

I read this in 1968 as a pre teen......then i read mandingo back to back right behind it.....i was never understood after that by many as the black power movement exploded and swept us young ones along with it.....sometimes they would give us free things or messages to take home our parents not believing we were half innocently being swept by an inflamed tempest of an awakening wakened madness!

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

17:06 Second question 17:19-18:03 Response to the second question

[@deckerskaatje7877]

does the (written) text of this talk exist ? where could I find that ? thank you.

[@msmichellelang]

14:45 - 16:47 .... whew!!!!!

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

18:05 Third question 18:39-20:25 Response to the third question

[@malcomshaw5962]

🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

24:07 Fifth question 24:13-26:46 Response to the fifth question

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

14:50 First question 15:26-16:46 Response to the first question

[@Maxkahsen]

This is what its like to talk to me. People are like.... wth?

[@angelabluebird609]

Keep telling it until it is heard. Thank you.

[@iiicuuubreathingfullyoohoohooh]

26:49 Sixth question 26:59-28:52 Response to the sixth question

[@jammon7430]

20:25 until 23:53

[@shawnwebb9502]

only for critical thinkers..question everything

[@nomibe2911]

What year was this?

[@hikidunm1582]

"I can't breathe" - Hello World.

[@marchellegriffin2113]

It take a village to teach and raise children. Take strong moms and dads to raise children and everyone need help every now and then and god is your only protection light knowledge and ect.

[@nellekzer7148]

6:52 Identity

[@jamieevans3785]

Read a very short book written by Mr. Baldwin on the child Atlanta Murders. "Evidence of Things Not Seen". I believe it was his last book.

[@justmyopinion9883]

I read that book too. It was one of his best.

[@theawaking]

This is why we still getting are heads bashed in today i believe in non violence but that dont mean i wont defend myself how i see fit because we didnt have the prisoners of war are still here and havent been set free or repaired

[@theawaking]

When there caught red handed or ha e evidence thats how you tell they talking to the wrong one