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A review by judyylino
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.75
"The glorification of one race and the consequent debasement of another—or others—always has been and always will be a recipe for murder. "
One of most beautiful and poignant essays I've read in my life so far. Love seems to be the aspect that James Baldwin promoted the most in his essays, for he wrote to his nephew:
"We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived. And now you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your children’s children."
To love oneself and to love others, regardless of their skin color, or religion. In his second essay he questioned the values of both Christianity in which he was raised in, and Islam in which he heard about it from the rallies of Elijah Muhammad. James Baldwin seems to be discussing the impact of religion and how it shapes one's view on politics and race and criticizes the hatred one hold for a specific race, which I fully agree with because just as he said "perseverance has no color".
However, I wish that anyone who is curious about Islam and it values to not take what Elijah said as a fact. Because Islam forbids racism of all kinds and there's is no difference between one race or another, and there's no such thing as calling white people the devils.
However, I wish that anyone who is curious about Islam and it values to not take what Elijah said as a fact. Because Islam forbids racism of all kinds and there's is no difference between one race or another, and there's no such thing as calling white people the devils.