"You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger."
In this quote, Baldwin offers a lesson to his nephew. He reassures him that, in many ways, his situation is better than that of his ancestors. He has gotten to leave the land and move into urban spaces. Though these do also have their fair share of dangers, Baldwin suggests that survival is now possible. However, Baldwin cautions that a deep, mortal challenge remains: accepting the white world's deep prejudice against black people. While this prejudice is no longer enshrined in law, it still presents a massive obstacle. This, Baldwin says, is what destroyed his nephew's father, Baldwin's brother: internalizing the belief that he was inferior to white men. He internalized this after years of being put down by white Americans. Baldwin points out to his nephew that the white world does still think of African Americans as "niggers," meaning that it continues to put them down and approach them as inferior. Thus, Baldwin warns James that he must not succumb to this belief. It is only by accepting the way white men think of him that he could also be destroyed by despair.
"And now you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your children's children."
This quote also offers a lesson to Baldwin's nephew, James. He remembers the day James was born as one characterized by ambivalence. His parents were scared of the tough situation their child would face as a black boy in America. They were aware of all of the limitations and hardships James would necessarily have to deal with because of his race. Nevertheless, they accepted him with a deep love. They chose to greet this child not with the fears that they felt, but with the love that they had for him. Baldwin frames this decision as one meant to strengthen James against a "loveless" world. For this reason, Baldwin reminds James that he must be strong and face his difficult circumstances for the sake of all those who love him. In order to honor their love and sacrifice, he must survive. Moreover, his survival is also crucial for the eventual fate of his children and grandchildren; just as his parents survived for his sake, he must survive for his childrens' sake one day, as well.
"And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it."
Baldwin addresses the importance of reinterpreting the word "integration." He tells his nephew, James, not to believe that this term means he must adapt himself to fit the expectations of white Americans. This would be counterproductive, as Baldwin believes these expectations are destructive for African Americans, since they are based on the idea that they are inferior and undeserving. Instead, Baldwin encourages James to think of integration as a process of teaching white Americans to accept black Americans as they are. In order to do this, white Americans must learn to "see themselves as they are," meaning they must face up to the oppression they have perpetuated. Once they have done this, they can begin the process of changing the status quo that keeps African Americans repressed. This is what true "integration" would look like to Baldwin: white Americans accommodating African Americans, and not the other way around.
"If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him."
This quote expresses Baldwin's conclusion, in his adult life, that his original embrace of Christianity was misguided. As a youth, he turned to Christianity because he believed it could help him to escape a life of crime or control by white Americans. For a time, it provided him with fulfillment and purpose. However, he learned eventually that Christianity was full of hypocrisy and was primarily used to perpetuate the power of whites over other races. The Christian God could not make African Americans life larger, freer, or more loving because He was typically invoked to put them down. African Americans could not find liberation through Christianity, which was an inherently white religion. Thus, they should overcome this belief instead of continuing to cling to religion as a potential means to salvation.
"That summer, in any case, all the fears with which I had grown up, and which were now a part of me and controlled my vision of the world, rose up like a wall between the world and me, and drove me into the church."
Here Baldwin continues his explanation of how his view of religion changed, saying that he turned to the church primarily out of a sense of fear. He now realizes that when he turned to religion, it was because God seemed like the only alternative in a harsh and frightening world. Most of these fears that drove him arose from his mistreatment by white Americans: police abuses of power, humiliation at the hands of white peers, etc. Baldwin was also afraid of becoming like the criminals he saw in his neighborhood. All of these combined to drive him to seek out religion as an answer to his anxieties. He felt as though he was trapped in his limited circumstances: he could never rise above his family situation because of his race, and he would never be able to leave his neighborhood unless it was as a criminal, an athlete, a talented musician, or a pastor. In this sense, his fears about how his situation would develop over time as he grew became a "wall" between him and the other possibilities in the world, which motivated him to turn to the church as an answer.
"Neither civilized reason nor Christian love would cause any of those people to treat you as they presumably wanted to be treated; only the fear of your power to retaliate would cause them to do that, or seem to do it, which was (and is) good enough."
In his childhood, Baldwin did not believe that his white countrymen could be swayed to see the humanity of African Americans through love or reason. He and many of his peers came to think that nothing could change the way that white men treated them; they would continue to humiliate, oppress, and limit black Americans as long as they had the power to do so. For this reason, many of Baldwin's peers turned toward violence as a means of gaining better treatment. They felt that they could only gain respect by seeming to hold "power to retaliate," meaning some kind of weapon and threat of violence. This was good enough to them as a solution. They didn't feel that they needed to be loved in order to gain respect, but rather would settle for fear as long as it changed how they were treated. Baldwin himself never fully agreed with this as a solution, which is partly why he turned to religion in his adolescence.
"This is why the most dangerous creation of any society is that man who has nothing to lose. You do not need ten such men—one will do. And Elijah, I should imagine, has had nothing to lose since the day he saw his father's blood rush out—rush down, and splash, so the legend has it, down through the leaves of a tree, on him."
When characterizing Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam movement, Baldwin warns against one particular feature: they have nothing to lose. Elijah, in particular, began this movement because he saw his father lynched when he was only six years old. After this traumatizing experience, nothing in his life could have been much worse. He chose to found a militant movement because militancy seemed like the only alternative when his past had already been so violent. Most of Elijah's followers similarly have nothing to lose, because they have also led very difficult lives. This is dangerous, as Baldwin explains, because it means they will be willing to go to great lengths for their goals and will most likely employ violence in their tactics.
"Whoever debases others is debasing himself."
Baldwin's last section of the second letter contains a number of morals and warnings. One of his main points is that African Americans must, above all, refrain from turning to vengeance. They have been greatly mistreated, and it is understandable that they would want to mistreat white men in return to make up for their crimes. However, Baldwin believes that anyone who debases others ultimately hurts himself, as well. The use of violence is corrupting for the person who perpetuates the violence; it can erode one's morals and character. Thus, he believes that African Americans should make use of more peaceful tactics in order to avoid debasing themselves for the sake of exacting vengeance.
"Furthermore, I have met only a very few people—and most of these were not Americans—who had any real desire to be free. Freedom is hard to bear."
Baldwin points out many ways in which white Americans are hypocritical, and do not have a firm grasp on reality. One of these is their belief in freedom, which they claim is the foundation of their country. Despite this belief, they enslaved African Americans and continue to deny them full freedom. In this quote, Baldwin further analyzes this phenomenon. He believes that most people actually do not want freedom even for themselves, because true freedom is difficult to bear. It involves being completely aware of one's reality, and feeling free within it. White Americans, in particular, do not meet these requirements because they continue to live in denial of their country's bloody past.
"And when I sat at Elijah's table and watched the baby, the women, and the men, and we talked about God's—or Allah's—vengeance, I wondered, when that vengeance was achieved, What will happen to all that beauty then?"
Ultimately, Baldwin concludes his second letter by calling on African Americans to recognize and embrace the beauty in their struggle. He believes that their struggle cannot ultimately be justified, but did lead to a certain kind of beauty to which they would not otherwise have had access. He sees this beauty when he sits at Elijah's table and observes the people there, especially "the baby, the women, and the men." But he believes that this beauty would be wasted if they chose to turn to violence instead of using more peaceful methods. He also warns that this beauty will be wasted if white Americans refuse to see it and embrace it for themselves, as well. On the whole, he wonders what will happen to it if the path of vengeance is chosen.
