The Fire Next Time
?White people [?] have to accept and love themselves [?] which will not be tomorrow and may very well be never.? James Baldwin, author of The Fire Next Time, said this in reference to his thoughts on whites and blacks seeing each other as equals (12). He states that when whites learn to love and accept themselves, the ?Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed? (12). To understand why he believes this, one must first know other concepts and beliefs of Baldwin. First off, Baldwin says that there was no such thing as a ?Negro? before the whites invented it. Second, he thinks that whites do not love and respect themselves, therefore they cannot love or respect others. Also, Baldwin says that whites and blacks cannot be equals until they come to each other as lovers. Once these ideas of Baldwin, and of many other blacks in the early 1960?s, are understood, then one is capable of knowing why Baldwin says this about the ?Negro? problem.
The first thing to look at is the fact that Baldwin says whites invented the ?Negro?. This statement is often argued
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