Americans not only made the words synonyms, but also used the combination of these words to form the definition of a "Negro". Even after the Emancipation Proclamation set slaves free, the word Negro was still there. The slave part was gone, but the skin color remained. This meant that Americans still thought of blacks as inferior, not because of them being slaves, but because they continued to think of the word black meaning the same as slave or inferior. By this, Baldwin saying that Americans invented the "Negro" is correct. Americans put the word association of black, slave, and inferiority together long ago, and made the mistake of not getting rid of the word association when they got rid of slaves.
Next, Baldwin says he believes that whites do not love and respect themselves. He says this, because in his opinion, whites cannot love and respect themselves, since they do not know who they are. On page six of The Fire Next Time, Baldwin states, "They (whites) are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it." He is saying that whites look back at their history, which is actually a combination of others" histories, and they do not see the truth of what it is. Whites look back and think that the past was the way it was. There were black slaves for a reason. They do not question their history, they merely accept it. As the famous saying goes, "If you do not learn from your mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them." If Americans refuse to look at the association that there ancestors made, that is that black means the same as slave or "Negro", they will continue making the mistake of treating blacks unjustly. What needs to be done was for whites to look back and admit that they made a mistake. Once that is done, they can love and respect others, because they will truly know who they are and be able to love and respect themselves.
