Baldwin from Fire Next Time
"the political institutions of any nation are always menaced and are ultimately controlled by the spiritual state of that nation. We are controlled here by our confusion, far more than we know, and the American dream has therefore become something much more closely resembling a nightmare, on the private, domestic, and international levels. Privately, we cannot stand our lives and dare not examine them; domestically, we take no responsibility for (and no pride in) what goes on in our country; and, internationally, for many millions of people, we are an unmitigated disaster." "I am far from convinced that being released from the African witch doctor was worthwhile if I am now--in order to support the moral contridictions and the spiritual aridity of my life--expected to become dependent on the American psychiatrist ... White people cannot, in the generality, be taken as models of how to live. Rather, the white man is himself in sore need of new standards, which will r...