The Fire Next Time

The Fire Next Time, from the inimitable James Baldwin, is a book in two parts:

-My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation

-Down At the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind

The first letter is only seven pages, and it is what (in format and content) most directly influences Ta-nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. It’s the kind of communication that seems too well put together to be worth picking apart. Go read it.

Continue reading “The Fire Next Time”

What I Think About When Someone Says “Real America”

My uncle told me his small town in Idaho turned into “Little Beirut” on the 4th – judge for yourself