Discussion Post: Bethanne, Emme, Ivette, Nate and Paola

As I read James Balwin’s piece “A Letter to My Nephew,” I kept thinking Baldwin’s writing was in conversation with Paulo Freire’s text Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Both authors speak to illuminate the confusion and struggle of the oppressed in combat against their oppressor. As Freire writes: “And this fight, because of the purpose given it by the oppressed, will actually constitute an act of love opposing the lovelessness which lies at the heart of the oppressors’ violence, lovelessness even when clothed in false generosity” (Freire, 45). However, this “fight” becomes even more complex as the oppressors are additionally confronted with internalization of the consciousness of the oppressor, self-deprecation, and horizontal violence. Baldwin address this internal battle of the oppressed by saying: “Please try to be clear, dear James, through the storm which ranges about your youthful head today, and the reality which lies behind the words ‘acceptance’ and ‘integration.’ There is no reason for you to try to become like white men" (Badlwin). However, he goes on to say: "(but)...You must accept them and accept them with love, for these innocent people have no other hope. They are in effect still trapped in history which they do not understand and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it” (Baldwin). In what other ways do the texts of the two authors reflect one another or speak to one another? In what ways do they diverge?

 Both texts propose that liberation, of the oppressed and the oppressors must come from the oppressed, and must be enacted through education. What does co-intentional education look like? What can we learn from these texts and how do we want to move forward as both teachers of children in a classroom as well as teachers, “revolutionary leadership,” in society?