The "wait, is Satan good or bad?" reaction makes it difficult to have any Satanist claimings of historical figures, but James Baldwin did actually write that in a semi-autobiographical novel.
Being born Black and queer in the United States was already two strikes against him, but Baldwin was also smart as hell—with the kind of encompassing mind & articulation to match that meant, listening to him or reading him, you could be aware how much smarter he was than you without ever being lost in what he was saying.
Most people will learn about Baldwin on their own b/c it's hard to teach him in school. With Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr., teachers can focus on specific historical acts that are no longer relevant, such as segregation and bus boycotts, or on a few choice lines and misrepresentations. MLK Jr., as he lived, was described in FBI reports as "the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation"; but he can be cut down to a cartoon
With Baldwin, there is no anodyne version of him b/c his criticisms of the United States, of American Christianity & white supremacy, of white identity itself, even policing & "riots" are just as cogent & relevant now.
James Baldwin, long after death, remains an exceptionally "dangerous Negro" who is difficult to touch even to slander. His work is exactly the sort of fruit that has to be hidden away and not consumed.
We've already talked elsewhere about Anton LaVey's myopic view of rebellion and transgression. But in general, when LaVey writes about what "The Satanist" is or does, principles he lays out do not compare well to many examples he gives or the choices he made in his own life.
Whatever usefulness Satanism has now is directly related to how we define rebellion & which ghosts of the past we allow to inspire us today.
#JamesBaldwin #GoTellItOnTheMountain #Satanism #DangeousNegro
