This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism

“Today I heard a dying man call out to his mama, and I wept for the world that will soon belong to you. I know what comes next as surely as I know the Mississippi rolls down to the sea.

The weeping passes, and rage takes hold.

The rage burns out, and blame begins.

The blame bounces back and forth, and promises are made.

The promises wither, and complacency returns.”

Don Lemon begins This Is the Fire with a letter to his nephew, Trushaad, on the day of George Floyd’s murder. Footage of a police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes went viral on social media and led to months of demonstrations in major cities nationwide. Lemon, however, feels that the result may be an all-too-familiar cycle: mass anger, finger-pointing, unfulfilled promises, and a return to the status quo until the next death.

“Do what you are told to do in each statement, nothing more, nothing less. Be careful as one wrong answer denotes failure of the test. You have 10 minutes to complete the test. [...] Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence. In the first circle below, write the last letter of the first word that starts with L. In the space below, draw three circles, one engulfed by another.”

To explain the importance of activism, Lemon shows his nephew the literacy tests that Louisiana used to prevent African Americans from voting in Lemon’s grandmother’s time. The tests circumvented the 15th Amendment by requiring those who could not prove they had a fifth-grade education to answer convoluted questions at a time when literacy rates among people of color were low. The inability to make mistakes and short time limit show how White politicians designed the test to be impossible to pass. While Trushaad now attends an innovative school, the ability for people of color to enjoy any education or political power is only a recent phenomenon. In addition, the discussion on voting rights is on Lemon’s mind because of the contentious 2020 election cycle.