Aug 2, 2017

James Baldwin, Remembered on His 93rd Birthday

James Baldwin was a writer and political activist from Harlem, New York. He explored issues that challenged U.S. empire, racism and homophobia.
By teleSUR / telesurtv.net
James Baldwin, Remembered on His 93rd Birthday

James Baldwin left an incredible legacy in the hearts and minds of Black radicals in the United States. Memorably he wrote, "The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." His life path exemplified these very words.

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Born James Arthur Baldwin on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin came from a humble Black family and was one of nine children. His writings explored the intimate intricacies of race, class and sexual identity in imperial societies such as the United States.

He was inspired by the growing political rebellions of the time, such as the Harlem Riots and the organizing of the Civil Rights Movement ,of which he was a part of.

Baldwin relocated to Saint-Paul de Vence, France at age 24 in an effort to move away from U.S. anti-Black racist society and develop his literary voice and vision. At age ten he was brutalized by a gang of police officers in New York. He once responded, "To be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."

In France, he was surrounded by an array of incredible contemporaries such as Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, Miles Davis and Ray Charles, among others. Baldwin's time there produced memorable literature, music and political discourse for the Black power and Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Beyond questions of racial identity, Baldwin seamlessly infused his works with considerable reflection on sexual identity as he himself also identified as a gay Black man.

Baldwin returned to the United States in 1957 and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement, aligning himself with the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC. He participated in lectures with CORE in the South and inspired debates about the Black radical tradition in light of the spectrum of Black political militancy in the United States. He actively took part in Civil Rights sit-ins, marches and demonstrations.

Baldwin questioned the language associated with the Civil Rights Movement advocating to re-envision the time. He said, "Let's pretend that I stand before you as a witness, I am a witness to and a survivor of the latest slave rebellion ... If you are a citizen, why do you have to fight for your civil rights? If you are fighting for your civil rights that means you are not a citizen." Baldwin contributed this realization to a conversation he and Malcolm X had during an action. Baldwin often remarked on the legacy of Black insurrection in the United States.

A citizen of the world, Baldwin also challenged continuing legacies of colonialism beyond U.S. borders. In 1979, he published an article in The Nation titled "Open Letter to the Born Again," criticizing the British Empire for its hand in creating the conflict in Palestine and assuring the empire's preservation. He wrote, "Jews and Palestinians know of broken promises."

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From the time of the Balfour Declaration (during World War I), Palestine was under five British mandates, and England promised the land back and forth to the Arabs or the Jews, depending on which horse seemed to be in the lead. The Zionists — as distinguished from the people known as Jews — using, as someone put it, the “available political machinery,’’ i.e., colonialism, e.g., the British Empire — promised the British that, if the territory were given to them, the British Empire would be safe forever.

Baldwin also called attention to the connections between Franco's Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, the role of the Christian Church and the colonization of the Americas.

Baldwin died in Saint Paul de Vence December 1, 1987 after fighting stomach cancer. Some of his most renowned texts are: Giovanni’s Room (1956), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), Another Country (1962), The Fire Next Time (1963), Going to Meet the Man (1965), Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), No Name in the Street (1972) and The Devil Finds Work (1976) among numerous articles and essays such as "An Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Y. Davis," "The Hard Kind of Courage," and "Nobody nows My Name."

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