The Riverbends Channel: ‘James Baldwin Debates William F. Buckley (1965)’

Source:The Riverbends Channel- author James Baldwin debating William F. Buckley in 1965.

Source:The Daily Post 

“Historic debate between James Baldwin v. William F. Buckley Jr. at Cambridge University on the question: “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?

From the Riverbends Channel 

You won’t find better debates than this one, with so many intelligent, thoughtful, respectful people, a debate with both James Baldwin and William Buckley. In this debate, they are addressing the biggest issue of the 1960s, perhaps the biggest issue in the history of the United States, civil rights: should we treat all Americans regardless of race equally under the law?

As far as the debate goes, I believe the answer is obvious, that of course the American dream for Caucasian-Americans has been achieved at the expense of Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America and the Caribbean to serve Caucasians. Once the Africans were legally free from slavery and became Americans, Caucasians continued to live the American dream at the expense of African-Americans. 

The examples are obvious starting with slavery and then moving to segregation during which African-Americans were forced to live in inadequate ghetto housing and attend substandard schools. They had to settle for the only jobs they could get, such as house servants for upper and middle class Caucasian-American families, because they were denied the educational opportunities that would lead to well-paying jobs with good benefits.