Baldwin’s piece shed light on some of the many underlying problems in American society.  Throughout the nation’s history, we have seen slavery and racism be what really defined what this nation was all about.  One can say America is the land of opportunity, but that does not necessarily that opportunity will be given equally to all.

One physical trait is all it took for people to turn its backs on their fellow human beings.  Much of the country’s history has been about the struggle blacks had to face.  Oppressed by the whites, they were forced to act upon what they believed was right.  While some held true to who they really are, those who ended up “believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger,” were victims of a system that set them up for failure.  Even the “freedom” granted from the Emancipation Proclamation doesn’t really mean all too much in the grand scheme of this if blacks are “free” to do as they please only if it is within the boundaries of what the oppressors had in place.  What is history can forgotten is one of the main takeaways from his line “no one’s hand can wipe away those tears he sheds invisibly today, which one hears in his laughter and in his speech.”  A nation who had said “all men are created equal,” should really have said “all white men are created equal.”  It is not just the struggles of blacks that plagues our past, but the women as well.  A “melting pot” is what you can call America, but whether or not you choose to assimilate or integrate, you will still lose sight of who you once were.  The hardest facts to accept is that “you must accept them,” because if you don’t everyone will keep on moving along without you.