When it comes to discussions of justice, James Baldwin’s sayings are as relevant today as they were when he first spoke them.
Justice is a word that gets tossed around a lot. It’s something we all want and something we all think we understand. But what does it mean?
James Baldwin has some thoughts on the matter. In this blog post, I’ll be exploring some of Baldwin’s quotes about justice and how they can help us better understand what it means to be just. Stay tuned!
The concept of justice is at the heart of Baldwin’s work. He was acutely aware of the ways in which people are denied justice, and he used his writing as a tool to fight for equality.
Injustice can take many forms, from racism and discrimination to economic inequality. For Baldwin, it was important that we see each other as human beings first and foremost. We all have a shared humanity, and when we remember this, we can begin to build a world that is more just and equal for everyone.
Here QuotesGeeks share some of James Baldwin’s quotes on justice that are sure to help you stand out in a critical profession.
No Name in the Street (James Baldwin’s book about Justice)
No Name in the Street is a powerful essay by James Baldwin that tackles racism and its effects on both individuals and society as a whole.
No Name in the Street is a book written by James Baldwin about various historical events and figures. Baldwin describes his views on them in-depth, including Francisco Franco, McCarthyism, Eldridge Cleaver, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Top 16 James Baldwin Quotes On Justice:
01.
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
– James Baldwin
02.
“The real victim of bigotry is the white man who hides his weakness under his myth of superiority.”
– James Baldwin
03.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.“
― James Baldwin
04.
“The white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.”
― James Baldwin
05.
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
― James Baldwin
06.
“If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected – those, precisely, who need the law’s protection most! – and listens to their testimony.”
― James Baldwin
07.
“Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.”
― James Baldwin
08.
“If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving. And, after all, one can give freedom only by setting someone free.”
― James Baldwin
09.
“It is a terrible, an inexorable, law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one’s own: in the face of one’s victim, one sees oneself.”
― James Baldwin
10.
“Not only was I not born to be a slave; I was not born to hope to become the equal of the slave master.”
— James Baldwin
11.
“Words like “freedom,” “justice,” “democracy” are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”
— James Baldwin
12.
“To be born in a free society and not to be born free is to be born into a lie. To be told by co-citizens and co-Christians that you have no value, no history, have never done anything that is worthy of human respect destroys you because in the beginning you believe it.”
― James Baldwin
13.
“Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any black man, any poor person – ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know, not whether or not the country is just, but whether or not it has any love for justice, or any concept of it. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
― James Baldwin
14.
“The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.”
― James Baldwin
15.
“The miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic’s definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity and their responsibility for one another. It is an extraordinary achievement to be trapped in the dungeon of color and to dare to shake down its walls and to step out of it leaving the jailkeeper in the rubble.”
― James Baldwin
16.
“Our dehumanization of the Negro then is indivisible from our dehumanization of ourselves; the loss of our own identity is the price we pay for our annulment of his.”
― James Baldwin
Conclusion
Baldwin’s words ring as true today as they did when he first uttered them. We still have a long way to go before we can call ourselves a just society, but his quotes offer us hope and serve as motivation to keep fighting for what is right. Let these words from James Baldwin inspire you to write your own story of justice. What will your next chapter be?
Thanks for reading.
You might also like
- 20 Thomas Jefferson Quotes On Liberty To Learn Justice And Equality
- 25 Gandhi Quotes About Nonviolence
- 46 Marcus Aurelius Quotes Meditations
Reference