https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-118132175-1

Fussy Tongue

Menu

Skip to content
  • FUSSY TONGUE Home
  • About
  • Inspiring People
  • Exploring the Arts
  • Tasting Rainbows
  • Reflecting Life
  • Digitising Worlds
  • Links

The fire in James Baldwin

Posted by Fussy Tongue on October 23, 2018 in Inspiring People | 123 Views

I write a lot about and mainly for the living. I avoid the safe cushions of posthumous eulogies that protect me from future disappointments that are most common to living perpetrators. Plus, the living and unsung heroes need to be reminded of the impossible battles they daily win, from rising to resting.

But any human being who not merely by letter but intensely by spirit transcends the traditional boundaries between worlds by staying alive after their body has returned to earth deserves to be celebrated still.Their unique legacy has brought the living dead back to full life, rekindling the creativity that transcends mere existence into budding life.

Of these heroes, one stands out in literature. While many have styles that enchant, serenade or bewitch the senses and others words that touch the heart, this one has a sword that tickles the nerve.

It’s that feared part of the being, the egg not to be trampled on or tempered with, a piece to be left in peace, surrounded by tribal-preservation silence and diplomatic correctness. It is a volcano not to be messed with because it holds the sensitivity of all that an era has deemed too shameful to be told, too embarrassing to be unveiled or shared, too awkward to be faced and probably should wait for a more mature or emancipated generation that has made peace with it all.

But this mere man cannot rest until his words, full of a spirit that will not be silenced, a spirit of fire, are freed. And so as his body rests, unable to withstand the fight, his spirit sparks on, in the legacy of his essays and other writings, keeping his inheritance alive in the mind of his spiritual children.

Paris has adopted many a refugee fleeing with the American exodus from the country’s racial -and no doubt other- turmoil. James Baldwin is one of these, and, maybe consequently, a major contributor of the contemporary literary, philosophical and political thoughts of the twentieth century, a prominent and pioneering figure in Black history, humanity and civil rights activist of his time. Yet the true depth of his sword shows as his words transcends his era and their context. What he spoke then still unearths deeper issues faced today…

Five of the main inspirational moments for me from extracts of Baldwin’s work or sayings include the following.

  • This sentence by Baldwin really rationalises one of his most known oeuvres, every bit worth the read, the 1963 book The Fire Next Time: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” It is also what I believe summarises his purpose  to expose the issues that ravage humanity at its core to be consumed by the fire of his words bringing them to burning light, in a devastation comparable to the physical flood in Noah’s times. This is a man with a mission. 
  • In every generation, there are those who are lost, often because they run away from their past, out of shame, ignorance or fear. But for Baldwin the past is a necessary foundation to any good soaring – “If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.”
  • We live among a rainbow of opinions, judgements even and it is often hard to hear one’s own voice. It is more often than not that those who want to impose their way as the only right one have us doubt our own choices, and have us believe that we are less than we are because we are not them and do not have the same belief system. To that, in a letter to his nephew, Baldwin retorts “Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear.“
  • It is a rare, avant-gardist and daring position, especially in Balwin’s times and environment, that where God is concerned, there is a condition to his/her existence that denies him/her as an end and only acknowledge him/her if she/he provides a way to something greater, specifically freedom and love. – “If the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God can’t do that, it’s time we got rid of him.”
  • But among all saying, to bring everyone back to the reality of our interdependence, whomever we identify ourselves as, is quite the unnerving revelation. To be told the emotional -and once physical- captors are as enslaved as their prisoners, that it is not just about freeing ourselves but also freeing them is a deep lesson in emotional and philosophical emancipation – “We cannot be free until they are free.’“

Editor’s note – James Baldwin was celebrated during Cabaret for Freedom special James Baldwin on the 13th of October 2018 by the likes of award-winning writer Jackie Kay, Jamaican poet Kei Miller with new work inspired by Baldwin, commissioned by MLF, and sponsored by the Royal Literary Fund,  Shirley May, SuAndi, Isaiah Hull, Young Identity, Tiki Black and Billie Meredith. The event is josted at St John’s Church by poetess and author Shirley May and event organiser James Walmsley and is supported by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust. This was written just after this.

Cabaret for Freedom - leaflet James Baldwin

Share

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Inspiring People | Tagged author, baldwin, book, cabaret for freedom, essays, inspiration, james, james baldwin, poems, poetry, writer

About the Author

Fussy Tongue

Related Posts

Rashida Mustafa’s Woman of my dreams→

No disclaimers by Young Identity→

Franck MatambaFranck Matamba: Live your dream→

Daniel HenneyThe balancing act of Daniel Henney→

  • Latest
  • Popular
  • Our Words
  • Colossal poster

    Movie Review: Collossal

    November 10, 2019 / Fussy Tongue
  • Dead To Me Netflix Series

    Dead To Me: Netflix Series Review

    May 16, 2019 / Fussy Tongue
  • Aquaman Poster

    Movie Review: Aquaman

    April 25, 2019 / Fussy Tongue
  • Human Art: The different faces of feminine beauty

    Human Art: The different faces of feminine beauty

    March 8, 2019 / Fussy Tongue
  • Stop the linguistic virus

    Lost in Translation series – Stop the linguistic virus

    February 13, 2019 / Fussy Tongue
  • love_is_a_losing_game

    Love is a losing game

    1461 views / Posted August 8, 2014
  • Halle Berry as Storm

    10 Marvel characters Hollywood misunderstood

    838 views / Posted June 12, 2016
  • Review: The huntsman winter's war

    Movie Review – The huntsman: Winter’s War

    720 views / Posted April 8, 2016
  • Rick Fox

    Human Art: 10 Gorgeous African Actors

    712 views / Posted May 13, 2018
  • Daniel Dae Kim

    Human Art: 10 Gorgeous Asian Actors

    456 views / Posted June 24, 2017
actor actress Agent Zero Black Captain America Captain America - Civil War character Civil war comics DC DC Comics English family featured female film food France Halle Berry hero Hollywood identity Iron Man Korean love Marvel MCU model movie movie review music Nigeria Review South Korea superhero Tiki Black Tony Stark trailer USA villain voice Wolverine Wonder Woman WonderWoman X-Men

Tiki Black, the editor

Tiki Black

Sign up to our Newsletter

Archives

Favourite Quotes

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, that is why it is called the present.

— A favourite quote about living the moment used in the movie Kung Fu Panda I by the character Oogway
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter

Goodreads

Latest

  • Movie Review: Collossal
  • Dead To Me: Netflix Series Review
  • Movie Review: Aquaman
  • Human Art: The different faces of feminine beauty
  • Lost in Translation series – Stop the linguistic virus
  • Rashida Mustafa’s Woman of my dreams
  • No disclaimers by Young Identity
  • New IT Fundamentals Course – Join the digital revolution: Learn the basics of IT!
  • Marvel Jessica Jones
  • The fire in James Baldwin
  • Human Art: 10 Gorgeous African Actors
  • Gluten free life: curse or opportunity
  • 4 great life lessons from animated movies
  • Top 10 Favourite Japanese anime
  • Wonder Woman: Movie Review
Website by 3E Web Media
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
 
 
 
 

(C) Fussy Tongue 2016-2019

Menu

%d bloggers like this: