August 2 is the 100th birthday of the American prophet James Baldwin. In the Biblical tradition, a prophet was not primarily someone who foretold the future. Rather the prophet was a person called by God to speak the word of God into a particular historical context. Most often the word of God focused on calling out unjust practices that oppressed vulnerable people and described the consequences of either obeying or disobeying that call for justice. As a gifted writer and speaker, James Baldwin was an American prophet because his work powerfully articulated the truth about racial injustice in our country’s history and the impact of that injustice on the present. Although his novels, plays, and essays are now 40-65 years old, they still resonate with the current reality of racial division in our political, social, and religious environments. Here is an example of Baldwin’s insight about our need to learn the truth about hour history so we can engage in the struggle to free ourselves to change history:
One wishes that Americans, white Americans, would read, for their own sakes this record, and stop defending themselves against it. Only then will they be enabled to change their lives…History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do…In great pain and terror one begins to assess this history which has placed one where one is, and formed one’s point of view. In great pain and terror because, thereafter, one enters into battle with that historical creation, Oneself, and attempts to re-create oneself according to a principle more humane and more liberating; one begins the attempt to achieve a level of personal maturity and freedom which robs history of its tyrannical power, and also changes history. (From the essay “The White Man’s Guilt” written in 1965)
These prophetic words are important in our current context in which some states and localities place restrictions on teaching American history, especially making the connection between our racial history and systemic racism in education, healthcare, criminal justice, incarceration, housing, and generational wealth.
In one of this last essays, Baldwin shared these words which the Church would do well to put into practice:
If I were still in the pulpit which some people (and they may be right) claim I never left, I would counsel my countrymen to the self-confrontation of prayer, the cleansing breaking of the heart which precedes atonement. (From the essay “The Price of the Ticket” written in 1985)
Unfortunately James Baldwin is not nearly as well known today as he should be. His pointed criticisms intended to help our nation live up to its founding principles were threatening to the status quo. He was also marginalized by the majority because he was both Black and gay. Yet today as much if not more than ever, the words of this American prophet need to be heard and heeded. The two videos posted below provide a taste of the presence and power of James Baldwin, The first video features an analysis of a famous debate between Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. in 1965. The second video is part of an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in which he addressed criticisms addressed to him by a white philosopher. Please watch both videos and reflect on how they still speak to this time in our nation’s history.