Book: The Fire Next Time

James Baldwin's 1963 classic, I should have read it ages ago but somehow never did.

The first part is a searing indictment of what it means to be a Black man in America.  No matter how rich or successful you become, the American Dream is denied to you because you'll always be Black first and too many people see only that.  Black churches strive to make parishioners "good Negroes" who follow all the rules and stay out of trouble and give money to the church every week, while the pastors drive Cadillacs and buy big houses.  Black soldiers returning from WWII were denied the GI bill, denied medical benefits, denied membership to veteran's organizations.  The German POWs were given more respect.

James Baldwin wrote:

Negroes in this country—and Negroes do not, strictly speaking, exist in any other—are taught really to despise themselves from the moment their eyes open on the world. This world is white and they are black. White people hold the power, which means that they are superior to blacks, and the world has innumerable ways of making this difference known and felt and feared.

But then the second half details his conversion to Islam, and he leaves searing reality for ridiculous fantasy:

James Baldwin wrote:

We were offered, as Nation of Islam doctrine, historical and divine proof that all white people are cursed and are devils, and are about to be brought down. This has been revealed by Allah Himself to His prophet, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The white man's rule will be forever ended in ten or fifteen years.

Yeah, how'd that work out for ya, James?