Baldwin Speech: Living and Growing in a White World 

I can see why this man didn't make it into the history books. An intelligent, eloquent, gay, black man. the world couldn't handle it.

You can lose your temper for 30 seconds and lose 30 years of your life, so true. Glad I found this, a real gem

James Baldwin is in my opinion one of the best minds of the 20th Century.

It is beyond me how he did not win he Nobel Prize for literature. Well, I suppose it is precisely In what he says, they have the power and give themselves everything even though they did not earn nor built anything.

"Everything you do and say reveals you" very powerful and profound.

I think I'm in love. I'm in love with Baldwin's mind.

James Baldwin was brilliant. I could listen to him all day.

This man is so brilliant and well spoken. I am bitter I didn't know about him earlier in my life.

Graham Master Flash- A Child is Born with no State of Mind, Blind to the Ways of Mankind.

Even in death, his speech gives life.

This man is so intelligent, ahead of his time for sure

James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Gil Scott Heron & Dick Gregory. All brilliant minds that I could sit through a lecture from either for hours on end

Legitimately one of the absolute BEST minds to ever exist.

I Love listening to the wisdom of James Baldwin 🙋🏾‍♂️💙🙏🏾

James Baldwin had profound insight!

This speech for high school students is so sincere and thorough. It basically touches everything you need to live positively in this world. 高校生の前で話しているボールドウィンは、限りなく正直で覚悟があって、このほぼ絶望的な世の中でどういう目的を持って生きていったらいいのかを強く教示してくれる。こんな「頼りがいのある」大人を子供たちは探しているんだろうなあ。

Baldwin eloquently leads into the QA with a universally applicable and arresting call, to ask the most difficult questions to educators and challenge those in positions of power.

I believe I need to know my history for my self worth and understanding, not to convince anyone else. When we understand SELF, the ignorance doesn't penetrate that sense of SELF.

James Baldwin should be incorporated in to high school curriculum. He is one of the greatest and very relevant today.

James Baldwin a great man who loved his PEOPLE and REMAINED in the STRUGGLE. I LOVE HIM FOR THAT, SO GLAD YOU WERE ON THIS EARTH AND THANK YOU FOR THE LEGACY THAT YOU LEFT FOR US!

A universal sage in the 20th century all should study him

He should not have been named James...he should have named Genius!

I grew up with a much older brother that followed after James Baldwin , my brother was a playwright , director and stage actor. My brother passed in 2001. He would be amazed of this resurgence in Baldwin popularity in this generation. We grew up with Baldwin being on the same level as Miles Davis when it came to black artist and black genius.

the answer to the question of "'who is innocent and who is guilty '' has just blown me away ....whatever these people do, you too are capable.

Masterful speaker, most regimes and oppressors, can't handle the truth...He was a truth-teller..

I would like to use this incredible speech for a translation project in my high school Japanese classes. What a brutally honest and yet loving way of talking to the youngsters.

I am constantly blown away by this man.

The BRILLIANCE of James Baldwin is that he SPEAKS the TRUTH, there is CLARITY of thought that is not clouded by mythical undertainties, but IS WHAT IT IS. He's a great entree to SELF DISCOVERY!! TEACHERS should be TEACHING BALDWIN. Peace. G

I wish he was alive today. what would he think about whats going on now 2019

Q and A Timestamps 14:51 - Do you think Black people in America should learn African history? 17:10 - What force wins more, Society or Thought? 18:09 - How do you distinguish those that are innocent from the guilty? (Reference to his essay "My Dungeon Shook - Letter to my Nephew") 20:34 - Please explain your statement that Blacks must learn to accept whites rather than white accepting Black. 24:13 - What is your opinion of Black nationalist movements? 26:50 - What do you think of Martin Luther King's non-violence? (Reminder this is before MLK's assassination) 29:03 - Why isn't Black history taught as part of Western education?

My son took African American History and Culture at Medgar Evers College here in NYC. This course was very important in his education; this course should be required for ALL American HS Students!!!

I have recently fallen so deeply in love with this man. I’m so thankful for these treasures he’s left behind. I know that he’s deceased and that he was gay but that’s of no importance to my heart and mind. R.I.P. my king.

Pure, simple and educative. Baldwin was truly genius in his calling.

I really loved his brother and how he speaks truth to power He's intelligent and street at the same time.

I knew the name but at age 56 I have just started to watch RU-vid's. Now I am going to find his books. He is brilliant. But you also have the sense that every single idea is the result of rigorous and painstaking thought.

It is hard to imagine, or maybe not in the US in 2023, why the College Board removed this brilliant man from curriculum.

I discovered who this man really was when I was attending college and his writings BLEW my mind how the same issues he had about the black in america is mine theories aswell

I love all of my people. Yes this strong Black man was gay, but he never allowed white liberals or conservatives to cause him to stray from the liberation of ALL of our people. I hope that our Black LBGTQ sisters and brothers will follow this courageous brother's example. Black peoples fight for human rights is universal and crosses the lines of class, religious faith, educational background, and yes sexual orientation. Black people unite and get free!

Sir. James Baldwin didn't just tell it on the mountain... He broke it down deeply for us in down in the valley. Will always 💟 the profoundness of Brother 👑 James. ~"You're A Man Baby"~

What do you like James Baldwin or not you have to admit a common-sense approach to anything makes more sense

That group has inherited narcissistic pillars. When JB uses the word sinister, he is on the money. That being said, we have to know who we are and hold on to our boundaries with dignity, honor and respect of self.

We've been here in America for thousands of years, not 400. The captives from Africa were brought here because the indigenous black people were initially resistant to colonial power. A lot of them were slaughtered, except for the Gullah Geechee tribes, who have been free since 1739, more than one hundred years before the Emancipation Proclamation. They used the land as a defense to fight off the colonial captors. This history isn't taught in the history books, because it's too embarassing to white Europeans.

Here I am in 2020, just now learning about this man. 22:58 is a concept that should be taught to everyone, starting in kindergarten.

Pure GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an amazing person! Growing up in a white world is very difficult for people of coloured. The educational content does not prepare one for the reality of limitations! I as myself didn't realize until I was in my late 20s and early thirties, my skin tone reflected a different road map for me. Being a warrior of principles as we were taught at home, the white world of work viewed me as an arrogant person, which was further from the truth. I was asserting that I was as great as I wanted to become. Education,spiritual respect and principles was my grandmother's rule of law. Once must be educated and let your word be your bond. What a shocked of non reality in the world of politics and ones place ! I thank writers of one as Mr. Baldwin. Iam glad I was taught you are human and can achieve higher thoughts of critical thinking! Myself and my three daughters made it through the maze of the white mans maze! God bless my people who didnt allow the line of limitations to stop them for their continued success in growing up! What an experience to suddenly discover the fight in the skin tone maze! Glory..Next

This brilliant man's profound legacy is so compelling. I too wish he could have been my teacher. With events now and about I can not listen and not summon tears. Of course they are sad tears , but I also deeply feel they are tears of hope. The communication of hope has this prophet. May we all be inclined to hear. Be the hope you want to have! -Not so average white guy

I wish he were here now. We need his guidance today.

An exceptional and wise human.....they are rare..

Powerful Speaker! Love him.

What you get here is impressive pedagogical lessons. So enlightening. Baldwin was a true public educator.

This was a high school commencement?? How did they manage that?? Today's kids would listen for a few minutes, then would suddenly be bored and start checking their phones for messages.

He tells all but still it is the same what a great man to say the truth he is a great man 👍🏽🇯🇲👍🏽

All do respect to brother Malcolm but Mr Baldwin made a whole lot of sense mannnn !!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥💯👌

I bet many Americans would forgo Stephen, Alex, William and any other of that branch of te Baldwin family for 1 more Jimmy.

“Father, exists much later”, we are seeing this play out right before our eyes. Black African Americans, confused and lost. Please forgive me if I offend anyone. I am African American, but not blind.

intellectually nourishing.

The only James Baldwin.

🎉 Rest in peace and birthday wishes to James Baldwin 8 2 This man had a brilliant, platinum mind. We should all take the time to listen to him, it will not be a waste. Rest in Respect

Class personified.

Culture is simply a collection of human expression. It is neither superior nor inferior, for culture exists organically and without conscious effort.

A GREAT SOUL THIS MAN HAD IN MY OPINION

16:05 when the world talks about culture,(...) he’s not talking about culture. He's talking about power. 16:40 but you have not got to prove it to anybody, all you've got to do is know it.

one of our most remarkable speaker of truth and dignity with a concrete understanding in spiritual reality, and to teach us to not only be spirited in the society but to be a material force o this earth.

We have to come to a term all people. What they say about black people is really saying about them. That is amazing. So the realization that we all have to do about human history is harder than avenging it.

I LOVE this more every time.

RESPECT US!!

Timeless..RIP. let's try to tell the truth,yes let's try.

Simply Brilliant ❤️❤️

Yes, let's talk like adults

A shame he was hidden in his time by the mainstream because he loved men. Any discrimination is unjust and unlawful because all living rights are not the choice of a few and should be defended by the masses 👌🏽

No words!

THIS MAN WAS BRILLIANT

Yes he puts in words thoughts I've had my whole life

How is thought more important if it can't change society? This question is for the room.

He is really good not sure why I didn't hear of him in high school ,guess he wasn't taught much in Caucasian high schools in the 70's black history month was brief with Martin Luther ,Booker T. & a Women called Moses Harriet Tubman that was about it......

Just wow 👏🏿

That sinister evil within has nothing to do with me; therefore, it is not my place to be a punching bag it a healer of him. I love me enough to have boundaries.

I forgot something. Thank you for posting this video THEPOSTARCHIVE! Hearing this great man talk, will help us tremendously.

Solid. Thanks for sharing this.

What would the late great James Baldwin think of critical race Theory being inside of the school system today LOL can't help but Wonder!

Our last Poet🕊

One word comes to mind "Beautiful"

I had a chance to introduce myself to him when he was teaching at Amherst College, but chickened out. Now I understand that I'd already met the most profound Baldwin in his writing and didn't need amplification. It would have been a test of my poise, or an occasion for a later anecdote, nothing about him or my enlightenment.

Ancestors were primitive and of no cultural consequence in the future. With the select genes they confired on you take on the world as you perceive it.

education: 'it occurs in social contexts and it has social ends' 👍 historical education: 'it seemed as if history had been accomplished without my presence... and this had a very demoralising effect' 'it is through your sense of your own history that you arrive at your own identity' 🤔 💭 🤔 me: very partially; nature teaches us more than any human history ever could 😔 he speaks with no appreciation of benign, loving societies 👏 👏 👏 'we depend on each other' 👏 👏 👏 'you could lose yourself for a second and lose 30 years of your life' 👏 👏 👏 'let's not have any more myths [replacing white supremacy myth with the black supremacy myth]... everything must be questioned' 👏 👏 👏

Once Black People were stolen from Africa, our African culture was left behind. Most of the enslaved were not kept together, because they didn't want them to conspire to break away. So even though 'American' culture was forced on us, we had to create our own Black American culture. There is hardly anything that Black America 'culture' has in common with African culture. We had to build ours from scratch. Because we are the only minority that was forced to be 'American', we had to leave our African music, religion, clothing, language, diet, sports and all other African cultures behind.

From what I consider to be “blindness”, I rose from it after reading the Malcom X’s autobiography and James Baldwins The Fire Next Time… I appreciate this man and his ideas a great deal to a point where I feel my values have changed.. I’m looking to adopt and listen to new ideas rather than valuing the rustle and bustle of everyday life

Clairvoyance at its best!

Some exceptional bits of wisdom and perspective: 9:39 There is a reason for everything you do and you must find that reason. 12:31 No matter how I may sound, I am really only mortal - and I love you very much. 15:47 Find out all you can, but don’t find it out with the intention of proving a point. 15:55 There is no reason for you to prove yourself to anybody, except yourself. 19:55 You’ve got nothing to prove and whoever doesn’t know who you are is to be pitied. 23:00 Everything that you will do and say reveals you. What I call you doesn’t say anything about you. But what I call you says everything about me. 26:17 You can lose your temper for a second, and lose 30 years of your life. 28:01 People are not by nature nonviolent.

Damn boy just because you learn how to speak this does not mean everybody gets gets lost that is never the case I am not a judge and I'm so happy to know that I am not a judge and I am not a builder oh damn I haven't built any school you're not reading anything right now and it's okay it's yesterday it's not pickaboo

Damn boy just because you learn how to speak this does not mean everybody gets gets lost that is never the case I am not a judge and I'm so happy to know that I am not a judge and I am not a builder oh damn I haven't built any school you're not reading anything right now and it's okay it's yesterday it's not pickaboo

Damn boy just because you learn how to speak this does not mean everybody gets gets lost that is never the case I am not a judge and I'm so happy to know that I am not a judge and I am not a builder oh damn I haven't built any school you're not reading anything right now and it's okay it's yesterday it's not pickaboo

Damn boy just because you learn how to speak this does not mean everybody gets gets lost that is never the case I am not a judge and I'm so happy to know that I am not a judge and I am not a builder oh damn I haven't built any school you're not reading anything right now and it's okay it's yesterday it's not pickaboo

The measure of a person's dignity is the estimation of THEMSELVES not OTHER people's estimation of them!!! This is my message to the Black Lives Matter movement more oqurntly than I ever could!!!

Damn boy just because you learn how to speak this does not mean everybody gets gets lost that is never the case I am not a judge and I'm so happy to know that I am not a judge and I am not a builder oh damn I haven't built any school you're not reading anything right now and it's okay it's yesterday it's not pickaboo

Hey honesty I'm happy for other people even if they forget it doesn't matter it's not blame time that's what it's not no blame respect for you has no blame so now I respect my mother and my father if they never knew nothing I say thank you Independence is not a constitutional clap of anyone's lies of confusement it is not a race needs a color maintaining the stability of mental health that is not a anchor I'm not going to start with you young man thank you cuz it's not going to be a case Independence is my favorite it is not an equation respect for others is not going to start with you thank you

I agreed About the 2nd half of The title but it's Still an equal World but we still has a ways to go in The USA still

Rodriguez Gary Moore Eric Moore Kimberly

I never knew of Baldwin and im learning now of his speeches.

Walker Linda Garcia Jennifer Jackson William