African Americans In James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time

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The United States of America has never made a sincere attempt to try to be a home land for African Americans, there is a long and tortured history between the people and the country. It began the day they as a community were forcefully ripped from their homelands and brought to the shores of America to build this nation on their backs. Will African Americans ever be able to call America a true home, it is unclear, but what is clear is that James Baldwin, in The Fire Next Time illustrates the ways in which strides can be made towards that future.
African American’s have a long history of abuse and neglect by the US, without even talking about slavery, post-slavery there was reconstruction that allowed Blacks to have autonomy for a few short …show more content…
Baldwin’s step-father was a preacher and was consistently on his case about where and who he was with Baldwin recalls. So when he met with a female preacher who kindly asked him “Whose little boy are you,” Baldwin at once responded “why yours.” (29). What is perhaps most interesting about this part of this religious experience is how easily it could have gone the other way. Baldwin lets the reader know that this phrase “whose little boy are you” was the same phrase that “pimps and racketeers” use when they ask people walking on the streets to come hang out with them. Baldwin found a temporary home in a religious community, as his peers may have found temporary homes in gangs …show more content…
It is a major role in what is the racial injustices that the United States has built its structure around. “People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal (equal, after all, to what and to whom?) but they love the idea of being superior,” said Baldwin. (88) This concept of being equal is really important in The Fire Next Time because it allows the reader to think about the ways in which people think about themselves and their communities. In the Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing” we saw the same concept happening when the character Mookie took Pino to the side and talked about famous celebrities, to Pino these celebrities had transcended their race, they were no longer really black. But why is that? Pino Saw himself as an Italian-American ‘clearly’ better than the people coming into the pizza shop. All of whom were black and brown people, but these famous black celebrities Pino saw himself on the same level as. A middle class American and Michael Jordon on the same level. Pino clearly sees himself as superior to the community he is serving and therefore does not respect them. So once again in a community mostly comprised of minorities black and brown people, there is not a home for African
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