Scan barcode
amjammi's review against another edition
5.0
I cry so easily on airplanes, and these essays hit me hard. Each essay was a revelation, but Claudia Rankine, slayed me with her contribution.
readingwithcoffee's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.75
First part is much stronger then second or third but it was worth reading
savvylit's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Published in 2016, The Fire This Time features a veritable who's who of talented modern Black writers. Contributors include Kiese Laymon, Claudia Rankine, Jesmyn Ward, Honoree Jeffers, Edwidge Danticat, Isabel Wilkerson, and more. Each piece in this collection is full of heartfelt recognition of Black American identity and calls to persist in the ongoing fight against racial injustices in the U.S. Overall, The Fire This Time is an excellent reflection on the ways that American society both has and hasn't changed since Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time in the 1960s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Police brutality
birdinflight1's review against another edition
3.0
I especially liked the essay Black and Blue by Garnette Cadogan. The authors loves walking, and during his youth in Jamacia, he learned how to keep himself safe in the often terrifying streets of Kingston. Then, he goes to college in New Orleans, and later moves to NYC, and he continues to walk, but walking in the US is very different. Here, he realizes, he is seen as the threat, and he alters his walking to be seen as non-threatening as possible: wearing his college logo wear, never wearing a hoodie, dressing up for walks, walking with a friend (but not a white woman), crossing the street when people approach, all to be seen as not a threat and to be safe. It is striking how he goes from strategizing to keep himself safe on the dangerous streets of Kingston to strategizing how to not be seen as a threat to anyone else's safety in America. It's mind-opening that he is much less safe in America as a black man than he is in Jamacia.
I also like the essay Cracking the Code by Jesmyn Ward about uncovering her DNA and learning that she is about half black and half white. Many "black" people are due to white men raping balck slaves. How racism is still a part of her life even though she's just as black as she is white.
My other favorite essay was Message to My Daughters by Edwidge Danticat. Her argument, a good one, is that if a person came to the US govt and pleaded their case that police officers choke their people to death for petty crime, fatally shoot children as they play as well as unarmed people, (and all those people were of one race or ethnic group) they would have a good case for asylum protection under US law. That really struck me! It's so true that if looked at objectively, we would offer asylum. I feel safe in America, but many people who have a different color skin do not. We have a lot of work to do as a country. And the police force has a lot of work to do. I'm glad we are awakening to this as a country, but it's been going on for so long, and we have so far to go.
I also like the essay Cracking the Code by Jesmyn Ward about uncovering her DNA and learning that she is about half black and half white. Many "black" people are due to white men raping balck slaves. How racism is still a part of her life even though she's just as black as she is white.
My other favorite essay was Message to My Daughters by Edwidge Danticat. Her argument, a good one, is that if a person came to the US govt and pleaded their case that police officers choke their people to death for petty crime, fatally shoot children as they play as well as unarmed people, (and all those people were of one race or ethnic group) they would have a good case for asylum protection under US law. That really struck me! It's so true that if looked at objectively, we would offer asylum. I feel safe in America, but many people who have a different color skin do not. We have a lot of work to do as a country. And the police force has a lot of work to do. I'm glad we are awakening to this as a country, but it's been going on for so long, and we have so far to go.
artsymama03's review against another edition
5.0
Perfect modern supplement to Baldwin’s book. 60 years later, and every one of these writers eloquently builds the case that things aren’t any better today. It’s a sad truth that our country refuse to acknowledge, or do anything about. This important book is a must read.