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On the web at theshmit.org.

A quick heads up before we get started.

This episode contains some strong language, including a racial slur and mention of suicide.

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, that my ancestors are both white and black,

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

Until this moment, there is scarcely 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. Hey, I'm Randt-Ambna Fattah.

I'm Ramtin-Arablui.

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.

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

his words to confront in order to connect, something we can relate to today.

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