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# Still True: Baldwin's The Fire Next Time
- URL: https://clydedonovan.ghost.io/still-true-baldwins-the-fire-next-time/
- Published: 2026-09-09T16:00:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-09T16:00:10.000Z
- Author: Clyde Donovan

Yesterday, I reread The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. I had not read it since college. The book came out in 1963\. Most of what Baldwin wrote is still true today. That is not a compliment to the country. Baldwin described white Americans who refused to look at what they had built. He described Black Americans who paid the price for that refusal. Both descriptions still hold.

One passage stood out to me. Baldwin quoted Bobby Kennedy. Kennedy said the country could elect a Black president in forty years. Baldwin found the prediction condescending. He wanted to know why it should take that long. Kennedy turned out to be off by seven years. I think Baldwin would have taken little comfort in that.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ef/6c/ef6cb48b-5178-4b70-9b82-b14450340a56/content/images/2026/09/The_Fire_Next_Time.jpg)