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florinereads 's review for:
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes Of A Native Son
by James Baldwin
I didn't do this book any favor listening to it on audio. I apologize... I thought it would work, but it didn't at all, I got really distracted.
The first part was very interesting, with Baldwin's thoughts on being Black in America, racism and protests in the 60s. It felt so relevant. And of course it is relevant, as virtually nothing has changed since then.
Part 1 chapter 4 (no titles on audio...) was the most powerful to me - about African American protesters at the UN during the US embassy speech re: Lumumba's death in the Congo. They were depicted as communist and far left. Sounds familiar...
And Baldwin to say " ... wherever there is great social discontent, these people [communists] are sooner or later to be found. Their presence is not as frightening as the social discontent that created their opportunity."
1961. 59 years ago. Same shit, different day.
And this:
"The time is forever behind us when Negroes can be expected to wait! What is demanded now and at once is not that Negroes continue to adjust to the cruel racial pressures of life in the United States, but that the United States readjusts itself to the facts of life in the present world."
I also really liked his notes about school integration, as well as the North/South differences when it comes to perceptions/behaviors of Black people in these communities.
The book resonated a lot less when he talked about Bergman, Richard Wright, Faulkner, etc. I haven't read/watched them, so that felt a bit more random to me. I did like his honesty though.
The first part was very interesting, with Baldwin's thoughts on being Black in America, racism and protests in the 60s. It felt so relevant. And of course it is relevant, as virtually nothing has changed since then.
Part 1 chapter 4 (no titles on audio...) was the most powerful to me - about African American protesters at the UN during the US embassy speech re: Lumumba's death in the Congo. They were depicted as communist and far left. Sounds familiar...
And Baldwin to say " ... wherever there is great social discontent, these people [communists] are sooner or later to be found. Their presence is not as frightening as the social discontent that created their opportunity."
1961. 59 years ago. Same shit, different day.
And this:
"The time is forever behind us when Negroes can be expected to wait! What is demanded now and at once is not that Negroes continue to adjust to the cruel racial pressures of life in the United States, but that the United States readjusts itself to the facts of life in the present world."
I also really liked his notes about school integration, as well as the North/South differences when it comes to perceptions/behaviors of Black people in these communities.
The book resonated a lot less when he talked about Bergman, Richard Wright, Faulkner, etc. I haven't read/watched them, so that felt a bit more random to me. I did like his honesty though.