Reflection 2: Dark Days by James Baldwin
Summary
James Baldwin writes the short story “Dark Days” recounting his personal experiences with racism in the United States. A series of three essays (Dark Days, The Price of the Ticket, and The White Man’s Guilt) call into question the complacence of American institutions, and by proxy, citizens, to allow people of color to be forever lesser-than the white American. Baldwin challenges the white man to rid himself of ignorance and understand that his power in this world is not based on earned merit but on history—a history that has gifted privilege to the white and condemned the black.
Pedagogical Use
At first glance, this short book may seem digestible for language learners of varying levels. However, the high-register vocabulary and the author’s artistic style that strays from conventional syntax makes this text appropriate for only very advanced learners of English. For this reason, I do not see myself using this book in its entirety with most English language learners. On the other hand, I think small excerpts can be extracted from this text and used as the basis for a lesson plan, task, or activity, assuming that the teacher stages an appropriate amount of scaffolding. The following is a powerful excerpt that I believe conveys Baldwins’ overall message and is appropriate for language learners focusing on modals:
“The ghetto man, woman, or child who may already wonder why curbing inflation means starving him out of existence (or into the Army) may also wonder why violence is right for Carter, or for any other white man, but wrong for the black man. The ghetto people I am talking to, or about, are not at all stupid, and if I lie to them, how can I teach them?” (Baldwin, 2018, p. 15).
A language teacher might use this excerpt as the basis for a group discussion about racism and a comparison of the affordances a white American male has over any other person in the US. I also think this text could be expanded into an entire lesson plan in which students are asked to reflect upon their privileges and then the ways that they are denied access from certain communities. Specialized vocabulary, such as ghetto, inflation, starving out of existence, and Carter would need to be explained before having learners read the text.
Discussion Points for Students
There are several topics in this book that would prompt effective discussion in a language classroom. For example, James Baldwin talks a lot about the irony of the American slogan, “The land of the free.” For him and many black Americans, the US is not a free nation. In a group discussion I might ask students why they think James Baldwin believe America is not free. The following is an excerpt that could help explain his perspective:
“The way blacks were treated in, and by, and American Army spreading freedom around the globe was the reason for the heartbreak and contempt….When these young men [the soldiers] came home, in uniform, they started talking: and one sometimes trembled, for their sanity and for one’s own. One trembled…as one could not fail to wonder-what nation they represented. My brother, describing his life in uniform, did not seem to be representing the America his uniform was meant to represent-: he had never seen the America his uniform was meant to represent. Had anyone? Did he know, had he met, anyone who had? Did anyone live there?” (Baldwin, 2018, pp. 30-31, Italics in the original).
Other topics of discussion might include:
- White privilege
- The justice system
- Slavery and segregation
- “E”ducation vs. “e”ducation
Connection to Course
Though we have not discussed the topic of race in this course yet, there are several connections that I can make to the readings that we have already reviewed. For example, Paolo Friere (1970/1993) described the banking concept of education in which learners are receptacles to be filled with knowledge and teachers are responsible to freeing the learner of ignorance. He also discussed how this way of learning reinforces oppressive institutions by defining and perpetuating one definition of education. James Baldwin (2018) similarly noted the oppression in our educational system. He distinguished the term “e”ducation from “E”ducation to implicate the element of power in the transfer of knowledge.
In a similar vein, our class has often discussed education as inherently political. Institutions that enforce a “no politics zone” are denying their students easy access to different types of knowledge. These policies are highly related to the concept of the hidden curriculum, or the underlying and unsaid lessons/consequences of a lesson. Kinchelo (2008) noted that “the exclusion of the social, cultural, and economic ways of knowing from the development of curricula often holds tragic consequences for students” (p. 24). To combat this seemingly unavoidable disguise, Ennser-Kannen (2016) urges educators to consider teaching through pain: A pedagogy of pain is one in which learners are challenged to bring their own experiences with pain to the forefront. These ideas all relate to James Baldwin’s short book in that he calls on readers to stop believing the knowledge they are fed in schools. He notes that our only way out of ignorance is to learn our history— no matter how painful that history might be.
References
Baldwin, J. (2018). Dark days. London, UK: Penguin Random House.
Ennser-Kannen, J. (2016). A pedagogy of pain: New directions for World Language Education. The Modern Language Journal, 100(2), 556-564.
Friere, P. (1970/1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.
Kincheloe, J. L. (2008). Critical pedagogy primer. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Hi Kalina,
I forgot that you were reading J. Baldwin. I was so excited to read your post once I saw the title. I like your reflection a lot – meets all my expectations and perfect length!
The last two pages of Dark Days is also relevant for us – for our classroom discussions – in terms of how to talk about race in our classrooms.
The book has lots of quotes that I underlined:
“How slowly the mills of justice grind if one is black”
I just finished watching When They See Us (on Netxflix), a TV drama about Central Park Five, about the five kids – four African American and one Latin American who were imprisoned after the jogger was raped and murdered in Central Park, because they just happened to be in/around Central Park. One of them actually even wasn’t! They served 6 to 13 years! Their youth! Until the actual person who committed the crime came forward and confessed. The last episode was very intense.
I think you have made a very good point above that America is seen as the land of the free and land of opportunities. This is a very big illusion especially in contexts such as Turkey where oppression functions in a different way. Many immigrants such as myself come to the States for a better life [better work conditions, lifestyle, freedom of speech(?), etc]. The illusion that this is the land of the free may not be very visible for let’s say a woman who cannot even drive in her country, or an LGBTQ member in Turkey who has no rights whatsoever, let alone marriage. Therefore, “the land of the free” is very important to untangle in EFL contexts to make connections between one’s own country and the target language or the “other” country, which might be presented as this disneyland, with fun and freedom, thanks to our beloved textbooks.
In short, thank you for this great post and reading Baldwin!
Hi Deniz! Thanks for your input on my reflection. I definitely agree that the last chapter of Dark Days was the most powerful. I have been thinking lately about whose responsibility it is to try to tear down the “invisible curtain” as James Baldwin says. I can’t remember where this quote came from, but it went something like “you have lost if you have worked to surround yourself by people who look and talk like you.” I think that’s why language education is so important. Adopting a new language means being able to better understand life through another perspective. The quote brings me back to question, What does it mean to be educated?
Regarding your comment about who has access to the American dream, Kate created a awesome unit plan about this topic in our Speaking and Listening course. Maybe she could share it with you!
I feel like these comments should have a tag option. It would be really cool. “you have lost if you have worked to surround yourself by people who look and talk like you.” Very powerful! Great quote for classroom discussion!
Integrating Baldwin critique with educational theories the proposed discussion topics create a comprehensive framework for exploring societal issues through language learning.
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