James Baldwin Speaks! Social Change & The Writer's Responsibility

[@codyStrode]

I play his interviews on my way to work in the morning and somehow his talking points mysteriously align with internal dilemmas I experience right as a pull into work that somehow prepares me for the struggles that keep me awake in countless nights. These complex and painful feelings are so necessary yet difficult to articulate and cope with but the fact that I experience these enigmatic moments of clarity help me cry tears of joy.

[@deed5049]

There you go being human again.

[@LupeCoded]

Wow. That's deep my dude. That's a testament to how universally relatable this dude's message was.

[@Alex-pi6jt]

"Though I was not interested in politics, politics was fascinated by me" James Baldwin He drops profundity at such a rapid pace, one has to listen and listen again and still you'll have missed an oceans worth. Someone once called him the "most interesting man I never met". Yeah.

[@electricn1319]

After working for 6 years within academia to get a higher degree in philosophy, I'm finally giving up to pursue my dream of being a writer. I've always wanted to be one and to capture the world that I saw around me, but I was always convinced by either my parents or my professors to continue down a path which never conformed to how I best articulated myself. If anything, I found myself conforming to external standards. But for once in my life, I'm finally feeling transparent with myself now that I'm committing to what I want to do with authenticity. With a lovely lady supporting me wholeheartedly in my dreams, I feel unstoppable. I wish Mr. Baldwin were around now so I could shake his hand, as his words always stir and rouse me to action. I wish the best of luck to anyone and everyone reading this and sincerely hope you don't just let your dreams be possible but make them become true.

[@christophershrimplin1849]

Schools need to teach more about James Baldwin.

[@ntatemohlomi2884]

Won't happen, he is a disturber of the peace, he asks you to think. That's undesirable.

[@ntatemohlomi2884]

7:45 "The reason Plato wanted no poets in his republic, is because writers are by definition, disturbers of the peace."

[@Barklord]

I love James Baldwin, but I disagree with his reading of Plato’s Republic on that point. The society that emerges in the Republic is one that is driven by excessive desires - addicted and dependent on luxury goods. The resulting city is dependent upon ideological repression. Plato fears that oligarchs will use demogogues to create tyranny. In other dialogues, Plato says true poets participate in divine mania and ecstasy. Truth is not reducible to mere words; Baldwin agrees with Plato on that point about Truth in this talk. Socrates was a disturber of the status quo precisely because the status quo was unjust and concerned more with power and acquisition than investigating truth.

[@brooklynbrooklynatic9979]

"I refuse to believe that we are going to let ourselves to be manipulated into oblivion by some of the most illiterate people in the history of the world!" ---> Some 30 years later and Baldwin still is so much on point!

[@tyronenewsom3047]

Not only on point, but happening before our very eyes.

[@msrobindsommers251]

Brooklyn Brooklynatic it has not stopped.. whether you believe it or not.. lN CHRIST weigh the pros and cons.... because you believe it is not happening to you per say .... it does not mean it isnt happening to soooo many others... help them .. do not say the masses do not know what they are talking about.. start back real slow reading some works of those before you.. Fredric Douglas.. Booker T.. Harriet .. Nat T..ect..

[@msrobindsommers251]

I didn't have your whole comment...(l received the rest when l was finished.. they instilled fear.. that is what the continue to do ... cops.. so they tried to take(steal the whole identity of another. I am woke today concerning something's which are still the same .. because it never.. Never.. Never ended..

[@Lozie82]

Ms Robin D Sommers right on

[@lindawalker812]

In 2020, couldn't be more relevant today.

[@prcty]

"Who we think we are controls us more than who we really are."

[@epicwizedome]

So real

[@yinka661]

‘You have to know that you don’t know’. Baldwin stands alone in some sense and yet i can just imagine him pulling me up calmly and questioning my observation. So I will say this Baldwin’s text should be in every school, college, university and every single household. That’s my two pence.

[@lwazimace2508]

It's about being able to identify knowledge gaps

[@Pablosky1968]

Thank you very much from Spain 🤗🌟☀️😌

[@Wellnessmamahood]

Thank you for sharing this nugget of wisdom! His words are timeless! Still relevant today!

[@ErikCBruce]

thank you for posting this ... much appreciated

[@deseangibir4764]

Not only is he a great writer but his oratorical skills are captivating!

[@tyronenewsom3047]

He is absolutely enthralling. I read some of his stuff briefly in middle-school. But after my friend took me to see I Am Not Your Negro, I have been constantly watching and reading his work. An absolutely brilliant mind. He is an inspiration for the career I want, and what I want to do with my life.

[@omoghano]

He speaks exactly how he writes. The man was a preacher at 14 years of age, also the son of a preacher. I believe that is where he sharpened his speeches ❤

[@PLTexas1]

The Truth does not change...

[@tommyselbe1999]

You changed somethings in my life. Mr Jimmy

[@CrimeEnjoyer]

God I love the Q&A format.

[@questelohim...]

every child in America 7-12 grade should be require to study and be tested on his work. That's how we change America. The Great Hypocrite!

[@tyronenewsom3047]

He is too honest and intelligent for that to happen. The extent of African-American history, based on our textbooks, is slavery, The Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr, and Barack Obama.

[@not2tees]

"Society believes in answers and doesn't like questions." Our unavoidable alienation - Baldwin gets me to wear it and maybe even own it, and I thank him for it. A "minority writer" - yeah, right - the 99% minority. Make that the 99% of writers and poets, at least.

[@xproudfoot1]

100% minority if we were all so honest with ourselves and others

[@xyzllii]

Such a lovely man. Wish he was still alive. I'd love to meet him.

[@bellamarie7254]

A Captivating, compelling, intellectual man, who I would invite to dinner in the hope an ounce of his brilliance might penetrate my simple brain 😌

[@veristictrash]

23:58 “I am not the first person to suffer this way. It happened to somebody else. If it happened to somebody else, then I can bear it.”

[@AxmedBahjad]

"I refuse to believe that we are going to let ourselves to be manipulated into oblivion by some of the most illiterate people in the history of the world!" James Baldwin

[@prcty]

"Its not a stage joke, we can blow up the world."

[@marcusomariprp2006]

#blessed

[@tomicasessions353]

Baldwin as your professor ... Your every thought and expression would have to be c thought provoking.. At minimum..

[@brooklynbrooklynatic9979]

This must have been recorded in 1983, no?"17 years until the new century... 59 years old".. = 1983!

[@cameronskene4096]

Nuclear tensions were mentioned as well. Reagan era. I remember it.

[@ronrendon]

“Liberty & Justice for whites.” USA

[@jenniferhampton5171]

Liberty and justice and healing for every human being. Love is the answer.

[@TheKendallmstr1]

Oh believe me, they will get just that!

[@rberliner6680]

Só a writer turns over stones...

[@rpsu2b]

#blessed