Be Like Baldwin!
by Jessica Bryant
True Leaders Dare To Challenge
True leadership is often held in the highest regard and set aside to only describe the men and women who dare to challenge any group, organization or country based on those values and beliefs they know to be true.
When I think of the many brilliant leaders we’ve had throughout the 20th and 21st century,
James Baldwin instantly comes to mind.
The voice of many generations, I like to think Baldwin to be one of the most vocal and passionate activist, novelist, and playwrights of the Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin’s rhetoric is resounding! Many of his essays spoke to race relations and the state of the Negro during a time when this Country rarely acknowledged the presence of black folk, let alone discussed equity and humanity as it relates to them. Works such as Go Tell it on The Mountain (one of my absolute favorites) and The Fire Next Time, are ones that I’d highly recommend to someone who is new to Baldwin’s work.
His ability to directly and eloquently call out the American system, which prides itself on principles like Justice and Liberty yet works tirelessly to deny it to people of color at every turn, is flawless. You can find Baldwin’s rhetoric and playbook being used by activists like Jesse Williams and Amanda Seales regularly.
What Can We Do?
Confronting the American system doesn’t have to be exactly the way that folks like Baldwin so fearless did.
It is quite simpler than that…
Our daily actions can work to tear down the system more effectively, I believe, and frequently. I often remind my friends that these systems stay afloat if we do nothing in our day-to-day lives to impact them. How we handle each other, and our differences is one of the ways we work to change our Country. It’s the act of destroying your instinctual need to assume mischief is awry when you see a group of young African Americans teens dancing in the park with their music heard from the parking lot. It is the act of ignoring your instinct to ask the receptionist to “speak English” because you can’t make out why they’ve enjoyed a laugh while scheduling your next dental exam. It is simple!
Change does not have to happen via protest, boycotts and sit-ins alone. It is in how we treat each other regularly. This is how we dismantle and rebuild a better Country than the one we’ve inherited.
