Just a heads up before we get started, this episode contains some strong language.

Until the moment comes, when we, the Americans, we, the American people,

are able to accept the fact that I have to accept, for example, my answer is both white and black.

But on that continent, we are trying to forge a new identity, which we need each other.

Until this moment, there is scarcity any hope for the American dream.

Because the people who are denied participation in it, by their very presence, will wreck it.

And if that happens, it's a very grave moment for the West. Thank you.

The American Dream

Hey, I'm Rondan Nifetta.

I'm Romteen Adab Lui.

And on this episode of Thureline from NPR, the shadow of James Baldwin.

For months, you may have noticed a quote making the rounds on social media.

It goes, not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Those words were written by James Baldwin, whose voice you heard at the top, in an essay for The New York Times published in 1962.

For many people, it rings as true today as it did then.

The words have a power and clarity that seem to cut through time and space.

It also shows how ideas reemerge in times when they seem most needed.

And actually, that's something we talk about a lot when we develop episodes, historical figures and their ideas.

They inspire us, challenge our assumptions, and sometimes push us to ask questions we might not otherwise have asked.

So what we're going to do is bring you with us into the conversations we have with historians and writers about historical figures and their philosophies.

It's going to be a new occasional series, an experiment, where we're going to trip into the history of an idea or a person that's urgent and vital to understanding our world.

And what better way to start than to look at the philosophy of James Baldwin, a writer who used the power of his words,

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