LCG | The Fire Next Time
Table of Contents
Learning Experience | Getting Started
Welcome
Welcome (back) to Read for Liberation! We open up with details of everything we believe you need to know to find success with Read for Liberation in general and within this Liberatory Coaching Guide.
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Liberatory Coaching Guide | How to Use
Each book chapter/section has its own cycle. Each cycle is divided into 4 sections: Awareness, Analysis, Action, and Accountability. Each cycle section concludes with an interactive form to complete the outlined section activity. All form entries are automatically saved until submission as long as you are using the same device and browser. So feel free to pause and return as needed. All form responses will be emailed to you and placed in your MyR4L folder.
AWARENESS
The Awareness section begins each cycle. A detailed written summary is provided to complement the applicable chapter/section along with an embed of the relevant book chapter/section. You can take notes as you read in preparation for the multiple-choice questions and/or answer the questions as you read. Anywhere from 3-8 multiple-choice questions are asked in chronological order.
The reading comprehension questions are NOT a quiz; you are NOT graded. We prefer you focus on what questions are being asked. The selected questions were asked for a reason. Ponder their importance as you answer.
Also note that because this is not graded, you will never do all the questions, realize some of your answers are wrong, and then go back through the whole section to correct them. You cannot progress to the next question until you answer the current one correctly.
So take your time, read actively, and comprehend why the selections are important to your liberatory consciousness development.
The correct responses will be emailed to you and we will note the time and date of your submission to track your completion progress.
ANALYSIS
The Analysis section is all about developing your critical consciousness. We treat it like a muscle: the more you work it out, the stronger it will become.
Each Analysis section has 1-3 critical consciousness questions; you choose ONE to respond to in either written or audio format.
For written responses, you will type directly into the form. For audio responses, you will use Reverb and share the link to your recording.
You can talk with us and/or receive feedback by scheduling coaching sessions, or bring the conversation to the community via R4L-OC.
ACTION
The Action section is about making sure you are not just thinking about what you are learning, but applying that learning to an inspired call-to-action that is either safe or brave.
We provide a quote from the book chapter/section that captures the essence of an essential learning from the cycle. You are given the latitude to apply it in a safe or brave way e.g., conversation with a friend or family member, discussion with a group of colleagues, social media post, joining a community group, purchase that moves your anti-racism development forward, more research on a topic from the chapter/section, etc.
All we ask is that there is some type of "artifact" from your action that you will be able to share with us. Along with the artifact, you will submit the type of action you took, what the action was, and why you selected it.
What you share will be uploaded to your MyR4L folder.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The Accountability section is not a basic reflection. It follows a specific theory for how one should process new understanding.
The 6 Facets of Understanding are provided within each Accountability section as a reminder of how to reflect on the cycle and be held accountable for the learning.
Like the Analysis section, you can submit either a written or audio response. When you complete a full cycle, it is up to you if you want to immediately proceed or take a mental/emotional break before moving forward. You have access to the LCG for life, so there is no rush.
LCG Summary
4 Cycles
25 Multiple-Choice Questions
11 Critical Consciousness Choices (Choose 8)
4 Calls-to-Action
4 6-Facets Summaries
Cycle 1 | My Dungeon Shook
“You know, and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom too soon. We cannot be free until they are free.”
Awareness
AWARENESS = Developing the capacity to notice, to give attention to daily lives, language, behaviors, and thoughts (Barbara Love, 2013)
Audio Summary
Video Summary
Written Summary
This first letter is written by Baldwin to his nephew—his brother’s son—also named James.
He shares that he has began the letter five times and failed just as many times, seeing the face of his brother in young James, just as “tough, dark, vulnerable, moody,” wanting no one to see him as soft. He informs his nephew that this is a trait they both inherited from his father (young James’s grandfather) who he says lived a terrible life that defeated him way before he died because he had internalized all the things white people said about him. But his nephew is of a new generation grown out of being raised in a city.
He tells young James that having helped raise his brother (young James’s father) gives him a unique perspective on time and how it influences human pain: “other people cannot see what I see whenever I look into your father’s face.” To Mr. Baldwin, his brother’s faces are accompanied by specific memories, good and bad. He laments about the countless other lives that have been destroyed by the U.S. and the country’s refusal to properly acknowledge it. Because of this, Mr. Baldwin tells young James that one must strive to be tough since humanity has been mostly defined by death and destruction while trying to maintain innocence.
Baldwin continues talking to his nephew about how “well-meaning” Americans have caused him to be born in the similar, oppressive conditions as Victorian England. He wants him to know how to deal with such people in such a country because he knows these conditions intimately. He explains the love that James was born into despite what the world had to offer his parents so that he could be strong in a “loveless world.” He explains that even though the world is bleak, love is what has kept their family going and it is what will make James survive. This is to spite the fact that the conditions James was born into set him up to fail—to die—and this was for no other reason than being born Black.
Baldwin wants his nephew to know that despite his world being designed to believe the words of white people, their beliefs are more about their inhumanity and fear than any inferiority of his. He cautions his nephew about the words “acceptance” and “integration”: there is no reason for James to want to become like white people, and there is no logic for why he must seek their acceptance. Instead, he implores James of the importance of him accepting white people and doing that with love: too many white people are still battling with the notion that Black people are not actually inferior to them, which is leading to the loss of white identity.
Baldwin tells young James that these white people are his “lost, younger brothers” and that he should interpret “integration” as a way to force white people to face this new reality, with love, so that change can come: “…this is your home…do not be driven from it…we can make America what America must become.”
Read the Section for More Context
Answer 3 multiple-choice reading comprehension questions generated from "My Dungeon Shook."
As you respond to the questions, recall where in the text they are from, the contexts in which they exist, and why they are important moments to remember.
Questions are presented in textual chronological order.
Analysis
ANALYSIS = Thinking and theorizing about what is going on around you. What is happening and what needs to be done? (Barbara Love, 2013)
Now it's time to raise your consciousness.
Select 1 question to respond to from the options below.
There are no correct answers; focus on critical engagement.
Baldwin ends his letter to his nephew with the following: “You know, and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon." We are now over 150 years from the Emancipation Proclamation, yet Baldwin's letter could arguably be reproduced exactly the same today.
Share your thoughts on Baldwin's thoughts in the context of 1962 and today.
Baldwin cautioned his nephew about the words “acceptance” and “integration" while also imploring young James to accept white people and to do so with love.
How do you converge and/or diverge with Baldwin's thinking about these two schools of thought?
ALWAYS integrate the criteria for analyzing with a critical consciousness into your response:
integrate socio-political awareness (an individual’s ability to critically analyze the political, economic, and social forces shaping society and one’s status in it)
link learning to life and relevant lived experiences (representation of the experiences and choices of a given person, and the knowledge that they gain from these experiences and choices)
critique and/or challenge systems that have undermined outcomes for People of Color (“systems” are those that fall under the umbrella of race and racism, economics, and/or politics, and other areas related to the aforementioned)
Action
ACTION = Deciding what needs to be done, and then seeing that action is taken. Encouraging others to act; organizing and supporting others to feel empowered to take action, and/or locate the resources for empowerment (Barbara Love, 2013)
When deciding to take action, there are often 2 choices: the safe choice, which has its place, especially if leaning into full discomfort is still new and/or context-dependent, and the brave choice, which embraces being discomfort and relies on bravery in unpredictable contexts. As long as both are approached with progressing towards anti-racism, either can be selected, starting safe and later moving into brave or diving right into brave. But be aware that the safe choice is not so much easy as it is just safer in comparison due to more control over contexts and/or outcomes.
A safe action will give you more control over who gets to see/experience your action and usually involves those you are more comfortable with
A brave action will require balancing courage with vulnerability as it should:
involve a less controllable audience/the public,
require more risk,
create more discomfort (for you and/or the receivers), and
have less predictable results
Consider safe and brave actions you can take inspired by the quote from the cycle. Then select one, put it into action, and share evidence that you did below.
"And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it” (pg. 12).
Accountability
ACCOUNTABILITY = Accepting accountability to self and community for the consequences of actions taken and/or not taken. Foster understanding and manage opportunities and possibilities for and when perspective sharing (Barbara Love, 2013)
“You only understand it if you can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it, defend it, [and] read between the lines…”
—Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, 2005, Understanding by Design
Reflect upon your cycle experience below via the 6 Facets of Understanding as appropriate, holding yourself accountable to your cycle learning experiences and future commitments.
Can Explain - Have knowledge of why and how via applicable theories, ideas, and/or illustrations
Via generalizations or principles, provide justified and systematic accounts of phenomena, facts, and data
Make insightful connections and provide illuminating examples or illustrations
Can Interpret - Translate knowledge to narratives that provide meaning
Tell meaningful stories
Offer apt translations
Provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events
Make the object of understanding personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models
Can Apply - Match knowledge to context to use it effectively in new and diverse situations
Effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse and real contexts
Can “do” the subject/topic/area of focus
Have Perspectives - Critically interpret assumptions, conclusions, implications, and points of view
See and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears
See the big picture
Can Empathize - Have insight into the feelings and worldviews of others
Find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible
Perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience
Have Self-Knowledge - Identify personal ignorance and how patterns of thought and action inform or lead to prejudice
Show metacognitive awareness
Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede your own understanding
Are aware of what is not understood
Reflect on the meaning of learning and experience
Cycle 2 | Down at the Cross, Pt. 1
“The white man's Heaven…is the Black man's Hell.”
Awareness
AWARENESS = Developing the capacity to notice, to give attention to daily lives, language, behaviors, and thoughts (Barbara Love, 2013)
Audio Summary
Written Summary
The first portion of Baldwin's second letter focuses on his early teenage years during his religious awakening. He states he came to the realization that the same elements in Harlem that produced "whores" and pimps produced him; he could easily have been one of the former two. Many of his friends headed towards a street life and initially his father worried that he would too. He became disillusioned by school even though he stayed enrolled, but lamented what he referred to as seeing it produce nothing but "college-educated handymen."
He shares what pushed him towards the church: getting frisked and left in a lot at 10 years old and later watching his friends join the WWII effort, hoping for a better life, only "to be ruined" or die. This made him run towards the Christian church. However, he posited that instilling fear in others was still a legitimate way to better treatment, acknowledging why so many in his neighborhood turned to crime: Black people don't necessarily want to be "accepted" by white people as much as they want to escape violence at the hands of white people. This leads to his reflecting on Whiteness, deciding that if white people can find peace within themselves and each other, then they will stop antagonizing Black people.
Such a conclusion segues into reflecting on his time as a youth pastor in an effort to not turn towards a life of crime. Baldwin says that he only rebuffed illicit behavior to avoid giving white people the satisfaction of being correct in their assumptions about young Black men in Harlem. He laments that Black people in the U.S. are born into conditions that define them before they are even fully aware of them, but he wanted to be different. Therefore, he turned to religion to avoid crime.
During his time as a youth pastor, Baldwin recalls that he did it more for the attention, perks, and the “relative immunity from punishment” from his father it provided him rather than actual dedication to religion. However, during this time, he also started to question the Bible, not only in it being written by man, but more specifically by white men, many of who would have believed that he, a Black man, was cursed from birth. And the longer he stayed in his church, the more he started to question and criticize it. He was trying to reconcile if the call to love everyone really meant everyone and whether God really was the answer to hopes for human morality.
Read the Section for More Context
Answer 8 multiple-choice reading comprehension questions generated from "Down at the Cross" Pt. 1.
As you respond to the questions, recall where in the text they are from, the contexts in which they exist, and why they are important moments to remember.
Questions are presented in textual chronological order.
Analysis
ANALYSIS = Thinking and theorizing about what is going on around you. What is happening and what needs to be done? (Barbara Love, 2013)
Now it's time to raise your consciousness.
Select 1 question to respond to from the options below.
There are no correct answers; focus on critical engagement.
Baldwin states that "School began to reveal itself...as a child's game that one could not win" when referring to why many of his male classmates dropped out. "One did not have to be very bright to realize how little one could do to change one's situation...Long before the Negro child perceives this difference, and even longer before he understands it, he has begun to react to it, he has begun to be controlled by it."
Analyze Baldwin's theory regarding Black men's development in the U.S. Make sure to connect the late 1940s (as Baldwin is discussing) to today in your response.
Baldwin states that "Crime became real...not as a possibility but as the possibility."
Today, there is a lot of discussion about a school-to-prison pipeline. It is defined as the disproportionate tendency of youth and young adults from historically underserved backgrounds to become incarcerated because of harsh school policies and educational inequity. Because of such policies and practices, Black youth drop out at higher rates and are usually funneled into prison. Annamma and Stovall (2020) went so far as to say that depending on where a young person attends school, it no longer operates as a "pathway" but a prison in and of itself, increasing the likelihood of Black youth dropping out.
Analyze the paradoxical relationship/connections between Baldwin's statement (in context of his letter and being Black in the 1940s) and the current realities of today's so-called school-to-prison pipeline. In your response.
Baldwin states that white people still have a lot of work to do in learning to love and accept themselves and each other and only after this will "the Negro problem...no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed."
Choose whether you agree or disagree with Baldwin's logic and conclusion, and explain why.
ALWAYS integrate the criteria for analyzing with a critical consciousness into your response:
integrate socio-political awareness (an individual’s ability to critically analyze the political, economic, and social forces shaping society and one’s status in it)
link learning to life and relevant lived experiences (representation of the experiences and choices of a given person, and the knowledge that they gain from these experiences and choices)
critique and/or challenge systems that have undermined outcomes for People of Color (“systems” are those that fall under the umbrella of race and racism, economics, and/or politics, and other areas related to the aforementioned)
Action
ACTION = Deciding what needs to be done, and then seeing that action is taken. Encouraging others to act; organizing and supporting others to feel empowered to take action, and/or locate the resources for empowerment (Barbara Love, 2013)
When deciding to take action, there are often 2 choices: the safe choice, which has its place, especially if leaning into full discomfort is still new and/or context-dependent, and the brave choice, which embraces being discomfort and relies on bravery in unpredictable contexts. As long as both are approached with progressing towards anti-racism, either can be selected, starting safe and later moving into brave or diving right into brave. But be aware that the safe choice is not so much easy as it is just safer in comparison due to more control over contexts and/or outcomes.
A safe action will give you more control over who gets to see/experience your action and usually involves those you are more comfortable with
A brave action will require balancing courage with vulnerability as it should:
involve a less controllable audience/the public,
require more risk,
create more discomfort (for you and/or the receivers), and
have less predictable results
Consider safe and brave actions you can take inspired by the quote from the cycle. Then select one, put it into action, and share evidence that you did below.
“But in order to deal with the untapped and dormant force of the previously subjugated, in order to survive as a human, moving, moral weight in the world, America and all the Western nations will be forced to reexamine themselves and release themselves from many things that are now taken to be sacred, and to discard nearly all the assumptions that have been used to justify their lives and their anguish and their crimes so long” (pg. 33-34)
Accountability
ACCOUNTABILITY = Accepting accountability to self and community for the consequences of actions taken and/or not taken. Foster understanding and manage opportunities and possibilities for and when perspective sharing (Barbara Love, 2013)
“You only understand it if you can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it, defend it, [and] read between the lines…”
—Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, 2005, Understanding by Design
Reflect upon your cycle experience below via the 6 Facets of Understanding as appropriate, holding yourself accountable to your cycle learning experiences and future commitments.
Can Explain - Have knowledge of why and how via applicable theories, ideas, and/or illustrations
Via generalizations or principles, provide justified and systematic accounts of phenomena, facts, and data
Make insightful connections and provide illuminating examples or illustrations
Can Interpret - Translate knowledge to narratives that provide meaning
Tell meaningful stories
Offer apt translations
Provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events
Make the object of understanding personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models
Can Apply - Match knowledge to context to use it effectively in new and diverse situations
Effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse and real contexts
Can “do” the subject/topic/area of focus
Have Perspectives - Critically interpret assumptions, conclusions, implications, and points of view
See and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears
See the big picture
Can Empathize - Have insight into the feelings and worldviews of others
Find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible
Perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience
Have Self-Knowledge - Identify personal ignorance and how patterns of thought and action inform or lead to prejudice
Show metacognitive awareness
Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede your own understanding
Are aware of what is not understood
Reflect on the meaning of learning and experience
Cycle 3 | Down at the Cross, Pt. 2
“What happens when the Negro is no longer part of this economy?”
Awareness
AWARENESS = Developing the capacity to notice, to give attention to daily lives, language, behaviors, and thoughts (Barbara Love, 2013)
Audio Summary
Written Summary
Baldwin begins this part of his letter by transitioning to a discussion about the Nation of Islam and its messages, which he had always tuned out as nothing original. But he started to listen more when he saw a different reaction from the police to the Nation: they seemed to be afraid. These particular speeches were about the end of “white man’s rule” within the near future. Elijah Muhammad, the Nation’s leader, was being listened to because, according to Baldwin, he was doing what the Christian church was failing to do for Black people: redeem those typically deemed less than. He then compares what Christianity is supposed to do with the Holocaust that its Christian German people led and much of the larger Christian world initially met with indifference.
Baldwin transitions to discussing how Black people’s hope for change in America died during WWII. Regarding white men, he stated, “One began to pity them or hate them.” He discusses the irony of having to fight along someone who belittled your humanity, and fighting in a country where as a Black men, you were freer than in the U.S. To further make his point, he shares a story about discriminatory behavior in a Chicago bar where he and a couple of friends were almost denied service due to racial discrimination. So for the Nation, if “the white God has not delivered them; perhaps the Black God will.”
He talks about being invited to meet Elijah Muhammad in Chicago: how the meeting was set up was more about a white liberal agenda and appearances than actual issues about Black humanity and the time, effort, and money any forms of Black civil rights success take. But that is not how the meeting actually carried out since those same liberals were not present when it happened. Of the meeting, Baldwin states that though the Nation doesn’t necessarily have all the answers, they are at least more honest about how bad things are and that asking for Black people to continue to be patient is unacceptable: “For the horrors of the American Negro’s life there has been almost no language.” However, there was tension when Baldwin discussed having white friends and Muhammad responded to him skeptically about the truth of those friendships and the little it meant in the grand scheme. As Baldwin leaves the conversation, he wonders, “How can one…dream of power in any other terms than the symbols of power?”
As he is on his way back home, Baldwin shares the following: “…the American Negro can have no future anywhere, on any continent, as long as he is unwilling to accept his past. To accept his one’s past—one’s history—is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it.”
Read the Section for More Context
Answer 8 multiple-choice reading comprehension questions generated from "Down at the Cross" Pt. 2
As you respond to the questions, recall where in the text they are from, the contexts in which they exist, and why they are important moments to remember.
Questions are presented in textual chronological order.
Analysis
ANALYSIS = Thinking and theorizing about what is going on around you. What is happening and what needs to be done? (Barbara Love, 2013)
Now it's time to raise your consciousness.
Select 1 question to respond to from the options below.
There are no correct answers; focus on critical engagement.
Baldwin was once invited to Chicago to meet Elijah Muhammad, the then-leader of the Nation of Islam. He describes what brought about this meeting in the following way:
In a way, I owe the invitation to the incredible, abysmal, and really cowardly obtuseness of white liberals. Whether in private debate or in public, any attempt I made to explain how the Black Muslim movement came about, and how it has achieved such force, was met with blankness that revealed the little connection that the liberals' attitudes have with their perceptions or their lives, or even knowledge—revealed, in fact, that they could deal with the Negro as a symbol or a victim but has no sense of him as a man.
Analyze the excerpt, accounting for whatever historical and present context you require.
Baldwin states most Black people have learned to accept white people will place their color supremacy above a human connection with Black people, and that this has led most Black people to not only expect the worst, but also believe the worst about white people. He continues, "The brutality with which Negroes are treated in this country simply cannot be overstated, however unwilling white men may be to hear it."
The end of Baldwin's analysis describes what has now been coined as "white fragility," the discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequity and injustice. In the interview excerpt (attached HERE), Robin DiAngelo explains more about what Baldwin expressed above regarding what white people tune out about race and racism discussions.
Considering both Baldwin with DiAngelo, contribute your thoughts to the conversation.
While meeting with Elijah Muhammad, at one point in frustration, Baldwin says to himself, "I love a few people and they love me and some of them are white, and isn't love more important than color?"
Choose whether you agree or disagree with Baldwin and explain why.
ALWAYS integrate the criteria for analyzing with a critical consciousness into your response:
integrate socio-political awareness (an individual’s ability to critically analyze the political, economic, and social forces shaping society and one’s status in it)
link learning to life and relevant lived experiences (representation of the experiences and choices of a given person, and the knowledge that they gain from these experiences and choices)
critique and/or challenge systems that have undermined outcomes for People of Color (“systems” are those that fall under the umbrella of race and racism, economics, and/or politics, and other areas related to the aforementioned)
Action
ACTION = Deciding what needs to be done, and then seeing that action is taken. Encouraging others to act; organizing and supporting others to feel empowered to take action, and/or locate the resources for empowerment (Barbara Love, 2013)
When deciding to take action, there are often 2 choices: the safe choice, which has its place, especially if leaning into full discomfort is still new and/or context-dependent, and the brave choice, which embraces being discomfort and relies on bravery in unpredictable contexts. As long as both are approached with progressing towards anti-racism, either can be selected, starting safe and later moving into brave or diving right into brave. But be aware that the safe choice is not so much easy as it is just safer in comparison due to more control over contexts and/or outcomes.
A safe action will give you more control over who gets to see/experience your action and usually involves those you are more comfortable with
A brave action will require balancing courage with vulnerability as it should:
involve a less controllable audience/the public,
require more risk,
create more discomfort (for you and/or the receivers), and
have less predictable results
Consider safe and brave actions you can take inspired by the quote from the cycle. Then select one, put it into action, and share evidence that you did below.
“But in order to change a situation one has first to see it for what it is: in the present case, to accept the fact …that the Negro has been formed by this nation, for better or for worse…How can the American Negro’s past be used?” (pg. 56-57).
Accountability
ACCOUNTABILITY = Accepting accountability to self and community for the consequences of actions taken and/or not taken. Foster understanding and manage opportunities and possibilities for and when perspective sharing (Barbara Love, 2013)
“You only understand it if you can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it, defend it, [and] read between the lines…”
—Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, 2005, Understanding by Design
Reflect upon your cycle experience below via the 6 Facets of Understanding as appropriate, holding yourself accountable to your cycle learning experiences and future commitments.
Can Explain - Have knowledge of why and how via applicable theories, ideas, and/or illustrations
Via generalizations or principles, provide justified and systematic accounts of phenomena, facts, and data
Make insightful connections and provide illuminating examples or illustrations
Can Interpret - Translate knowledge to narratives that provide meaning
Tell meaningful stories
Offer apt translations
Provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events
Make the object of understanding personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models
Can Apply - Match knowledge to context to use it effectively in new and diverse situations
Effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse and real contexts
Can “do” the subject/topic/area of focus
Have Perspectives - Critically interpret assumptions, conclusions, implications, and points of view
See and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears
See the big picture
Can Empathize - Have insight into the feelings and worldviews of others
Find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible
Perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience
Have Self-Knowledge - Identify personal ignorance and how patterns of thought and action inform or lead to prejudice
Show metacognitive awareness
Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede your own understanding
Are aware of what is not understood
Reflect on the meaning of learning and experience
Cycle 4 | Down at the Cross, Pt. 3
"If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in a song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!"
Awareness
AWARENESS = Developing the capacity to notice, to give attention to daily lives, language, behaviors, and thoughts (Barbara Love, 2013)
Audio Summary
Written Summary
In this final section, Baldwin believes that “whoever debases others is debasing himself.” Baldwin stated this regarding worries that once Black people in the U.S. reached proper freedom, they would be at risk at treating others as they had been treated. Though Baldwin said he found it unlikely that Black Americans would ever rise to sufficient power in the country because of their smaller population and disconnection from the U.S. as their true home. Specifically, he discussed how all Black Americans have a last name that originated with the family that owned their ancestors.
Baldwin states that Black people no longer believe in good-faith efforts from white Americans, if they ever did. As an example, he discusses the desegregation of schools as solely tokenism, occurring during the Cold War and African decolonization to avoid the African continent moving towards Communism. Because while Black Americans may not be properly free, they can still disrupt the fallacy of The American Dream.
Baldwin states that if everyone, especially white Americans, accepted the reality and inevitability of death, they may live better and more passionate lives. But denying the reality of their inevitable death makes them focus on more trivial things, like skin color. He states that the U.S. could have proven the “uselessness and the obsolescence of the concept of color,” but has chosen not to, instead choosing to deny the humanity of Black Americans. This is connected to a belief that being white comes with some type of value that Black people need and/or want. But Baldwin believes that racism is based in personal white fear that is projected onto Black people.
Baldwin continues by reminding readers that Black and white Americans working together is the only way towards a better country, and that Black people should have more say in political affairs that affect their lives. According to Baldwin, “It demands great force and great cunning continually to assault the mighty and indifferent fortress of white supremacy as Negroes in this country have done so long.”
As Baldwin wraps up this letter, he shares that as long as skin color continues to dictate American functionality as it has, the ability to build a better world will remain corrupt. He reminds us that, “Color is not a human or personal reality; it is a political reality.” And as a final call to action, he asks the “conscious” Black and white people of the country to work together to end the “racial nightmare” of the U.S. or face the Biblical prophecy of not a flood but “the fire next time.”
Read the Section for More Context
Answer 6 multiple-choice reading comprehension questions generated from "Down at the Cross" Pt. 3
As you respond to the questions, recall where in the text they are from, the contexts in which they exist, and why they are important moments to remember.
Questions are presented in textual chronological order.
Analysis
ANALYSIS = Thinking and theorizing about what is going on around you. What is happening and what needs to be done? (Barbara Love, 2013)
Now it's time to raise your consciousness.
Select 1 question to respond to from the options below.
There are no correct answers; focus on critical engagement.
Baldwin says that "...there is simply no possibility of a real change in the Negro's situation without the most radical and far-reaching changes in the American political and social structure. And it is clear that white Americans are not simply unwilling to effect these changes; they are...so slothful..."
What, if any, political and social progressions of today would Baldwin define as "radical" and "far-reaching"? Would his thoughts about white Americans from the 1960s still hold today?
Baldwin states that while Black Americans may never be able to "rise to power," they still have the ability to "precipitate chaos and ring down the curtain of the American dream."
Analyze what Baldwin is saying from your perspective.
Baldwin states that racism has little to do with antipathy and is only symbolically concerned with skin color. Instead, he believes racial tension comes from white people's "private fears and longings" that are then projected onto Black people.
Share your interpretation of Baldwin’s logic. Do you agree or disagree? Provide support for your response.
ALWAYS integrate the criteria for analyzing with a critical consciousness into your response:
integrate socio-political awareness (an individual’s ability to critically analyze the political, economic, and social forces shaping society and one’s status in it)
link learning to life and relevant lived experiences (representation of the experiences and choices of a given person, and the knowledge that they gain from these experiences and choices)
critique and/or challenge systems that have undermined outcomes for People of Color (“systems” are those that fall under the umbrella of race and racism, economics, and/or politics, and other areas related to the aforementioned)
Action
ACTION = Deciding what needs to be done, and then seeing that action is taken. Encouraging others to act; organizing and supporting others to feel empowered to take action, and/or locate the resources for empowerment (Barbara Love, 2013)
When deciding to take action, there are often 2 choices: the safe choice, which has its place, especially if leaning into full discomfort is still new and/or context-dependent, and the brave choice, which embraces being discomfort and relies on bravery in unpredictable contexts. As long as both are approached with progressing towards anti-racism, either can be selected, starting safe and later moving into brave or diving right into brave. But be aware that the safe choice is not so much easy as it is just safer in comparison due to more control over contexts and/or outcomes.
A safe action will give you more control over who gets to see/experience your action and usually involves those you are more comfortable with
A brave action will require balancing courage with vulnerability as it should:
involve a less controllable audience/the public,
require more risk,
create more discomfort (for you and/or the receivers), and
have less predictable results
Consider safe and brave actions you can take inspired by the quote from the cycle. Then select one, put it into action, and share evidence that you did below.
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace—not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth” (pg. 65).
Accountability
ACCOUNTABILITY = Accepting accountability to self and community for the consequences of actions taken and/or not taken. Foster understanding and manage opportunities and possibilities for and when perspective sharing (Barbara Love, 2013)
“You only understand it if you can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it, defend it, [and] read between the lines…”
—Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, 2005, Understanding by Design
Reflect upon your cycle experience below via the 6 Facets of Understanding as appropriate, holding yourself accountable to your cycle learning experiences and future commitments.
Can Explain - Have knowledge of why and how via applicable theories, ideas, and/or illustrations
Via generalizations or principles, provide justified and systematic accounts of phenomena, facts, and data
Make insightful connections and provide illuminating examples or illustrations
Can Interpret - Translate knowledge to narratives that provide meaning
Tell meaningful stories
Offer apt translations
Provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events
Make the object of understanding personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models
Can Apply - Match knowledge to context to use it effectively in new and diverse situations
Effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse and real contexts
Can “do” the subject/topic/area of focus
Have Perspectives - Critically interpret assumptions, conclusions, implications, and points of view
See and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears
See the big picture
Can Empathize - Have insight into the feelings and worldviews of others
Find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible
Perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience
Have Self-Knowledge - Identify personal ignorance and how patterns of thought and action inform or lead to prejudice
Show metacognitive awareness
Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede your own understanding
Are aware of what is not understood
Reflect on the meaning of learning and experience