The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America

"This is probably the only intellectual biography that I have on the list. This is a book that you finish reading and you’re mad you’re done, it’s so so so good. It’s much more recent than the others, it was written in 2019. Nicholas Buccola is a wonderful political theorist. He does a fine job of helping us to know Buckley and Baldwin in much greater depth. Why is it on my anger list? The whole purpose of the book is that it builds up to a finale. The two have a great debate at Cambridge. The debate itself is about race in America, but it’s also about the anger black folks feel in response to mistreatment. I mention Buckley a lot in these talks that I give. He thought there was no place for anger, that it would be counterproductive to the aims of black folk. It was only going to inspire white resentment, and wouldn’t focus on the future. So despite the injustice that they were experiencing, he thought it just had no place. I just found that debate fascinating. It’s a debate about race, but it’s also a debate about rage. I knew about this debate, but not really in detail about the figures, and how that debate ended up happening. So I found his book completely fascinating. William Buckley was responsible for reviving what we call the conservative movement in America. He was a leader of the movement and started his own magazine that is still in existence today. When I talk about reviving conservatism, the image is important here. I suppose if we’re conceiving of conservatives as these individuals who are not with the times, who are racist, belligerent, etc., etc., he kind of dignifies conservatism. Even as he’s speaking on these particular matters in regards to race, one might say that it’s not explicitly racist, although maybe paternalistic. It’s not what people are used to, as far as some of the white supremacist language in the United States. That was all part of the repackaging of the conservative movement. There’s a very interesting example of this when he engages in a debate with Gore Vidal . There is a fascinating documentary about that debate at the Democratic Convention that took place in the 60s. He talks as a stoic, as a man who’s in control of his emotions when they make these particular arguments, this repackaging. Then what happens in that debate that the documentary Best of Enemies displays, is that he loses it for a moment. He loses it for a moment emotionally and he calls Gore Vidal a homophobic slur. He never forgave himself for that moment, because the whole point that he was trying to do was to suggest that there’s a conservatism that doesn’t do that kind of name-calling, that can be rational. That was basically Buckley’s contribution, he was a conservative who repackaged conservatism in a very interesting way. Buckley’s a figure who is an aristocrat, WASP-y, coming from a place of privilege, but an intellectual nonetheless, trying to revive a particular movement. And you contrast this figure with James Baldwin , who’s also a writer, who is what he would call a witness to the civil rights movement. Baldwin comes up in poverty in Harlem. They couldn’t be more different but they’re both doing the job, their work in their respective spaces, trying to give attention to their particular concerns in their particular eloquent manner. And they come together in the UK and have this debate on race. Baldwin wins the debate. Buckley believes that the Union voted for him because he was just simply black and they felt that it was an opportunity for Baldwin to kind of beat up on white America and the British folks just loved that because they just have a hatred for America. He never got over that loss. And so it just gives us a good picture of looking at two particular figures who are not just figures per se, but they represent ideas. They represent affect and feelings of this particular time, come together in this particular moment in which they’re going to discuss race and rage to people who are not Americans, from their particular perspectives, their very different histories. It’s completely fascinating. Yes, he was in France. He also spent some time in Turkey. He was no stranger to Europe. They’re completely brilliant orators. That’s one of the things that I appreciate about both Baldwin and West. It’s one thing to write with eloquence on the page, but it’s another thing to do this and be so persuasive in speech. Not everyone has that gift. We’re philosophers, so we know there are a lot of people who can write, but put them in front of an audience, and they’re a complete bore. You’re confused, left thinking ‘How can this person be the writer of this text that blew me away?’ This is going to sound strange to a lot of people, but I also found Buckley to be elegant and eloquent in speech, a very charismatic figure. I’m intrigued by him as a figure, although our political and racial beliefs are so far apart. I think both of these individuals – Buckely and Baldwin – are fascinating. There’s a wonderful book about that. It’s called The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union : A Transatlantic Story of Anti-racist Protests by Stephen Tuck. It’s completely fascinating too. There’s a trend here in the books I love. I love debates, number one. And I love all biographies about said debates!"