Baldwin Response

• “Let us say that the child is seven years old and I am his father… the child knows this, though he doesn’t know why.”(Page 2, Paragraph 2) This paragraph really speaks to me. I’ve seen the projects and I have family who live in the projects. I know what kind of dangers are there and how unclean the buildings are. Those areas are common living pplaces for Black people and I understand exactly what it is like to be in those areas.
• ” Children, not yet aware that it is dangerous to look too deeply at anything, look at everything, look at each other, and draw their own conclusions.”(Page 2 Paragraph 1) This is a sentence that also speaks to me. The history of America is a pretty dark one, and so there are many things left out when they teach the younger children about it. Many Black children don’t understand their circumstances or the things that happen around them, and because they don’t know, they try and learn by observing everything around them.
• “The Bible says somewhere that where there is no vision the people perish. I don’t think anyone can doubt that in this country today we are menaced – intolerably menaced – by a lack of vision.”(Page 4, Paragraph 4) I thought this line was very powerful. Baldwin uses the Bible to talk about America’s current circumstance, that we lack a vision, and so our country is in turmoil, where people have different visions instead of one united one, and so conflict emerges from that argument.
• “I was not a “nigger” even though you called me one. But if I was a “nigger” in your eyes, there was something about you – there was something you needed.”(Page 3, Paragraph 3) This line interested me because this was the moment when Baldwin started to fight back, when he knew something was wrong. Baldwin believed that he wasn’t what people said he was, but he also knew that the country believed he was what they said he was, and so he is forced to be that something. That alone is the conflict of the country.

When Baldwin says the world is larger, I believe he means exactly what he said. The world is larger than anyone thinks. There are many different opportunities to discover and experiences to have while you are out in the world. Baldwin talks a lot about the experiences of Blacks and African Americans throughout American history. Just as there has been a lot of oppression to Blacks in that histoy, there have also been movements to help Black people and supporters who try ans help any way they can. And just like the oppresion of Blacks is a big thing in America, there is more to the world than just America. There are many different continents with many different countries where Black people can avoid the hate and discrimination they get in America. Places where Black people can strive higher do exist, they just need to search past the shackles of America.

I think it is a necessity to learn about our own race’s history. There are many people in different situations that don’t know why they are in that situation, but it is something that can be learned through their history. Take me for example. Me as an African American can still go through things like discrimination or racial attacks. This has been going on in America since slavery. African Americans experiencing oppression is nothing new to this country, and is something that probably won’t change for years to come. If I didn’t know this, then at any moment I could walk into a fire. It is more dangerous to be ignorant of it than it is to know about it. I know now, because I know this history, that I could be in danger. The dangers of the areas that Black people are forced to live in and the dangers of all those who don’t support Black people are things that I can protect myself from because I know of our history.