What James Baldwin can teach us about Israel, and ourselves

By Neda Ulaby,

Gene Demby, Jess Kung, Leah Donnella, Courtney Stein, Christina Cala, Xavier Lopez, B.A. Parker, Lori Lizarraga, Jasmine Romero

Published August 28, 2024 at 8:52 AM EDT

An illustrated portrait of the scholar James Baldwin next to an image of Israel, a country that he wrote and thought deeply about.

It's been more than ten months since devastating violence began unfolding in Israel and Gaza. And in the midst of all the death, so many people are trying to better understand what's going on in that region, and how the United States is implicated in it. Discussions have been messy and difficult, and in many cases, utterly unproductive.

So on this episode of the show, we're looking back to the writing of James Baldwin. Some might be surprised to hear that Baldwin thought a lot about what was happening in Israel. That's because for him, the country came to embody some issues he cared about deeply – self-determination, oppression, the contradictions of nationalism and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.

And while Baldwin's views on the country transformed significantly over the course of his life, his evolving thoughts offer some ideas about how to grapple with trauma, how to approach conversations with empathy, and how to bridge the gap between places and ideas that, on their surface, might seem oceans apart.

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Neda Ulaby

Neda Ulaby reports on arts, entertainment, and cultural trends for NPR's Arts Desk.

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Gene Demby

Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.

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Jess Kung

Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.

Leah Donnella

Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team, where she helps produce and edit for the Code Switch podcast, blog, and newsletter. She created the "Ask Code Switch" series, where members of the team respond to listener questions about how race, identity, and culture come up in everyday life.

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Courtney Stein

Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.

Christina Cala

Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.

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Xavier Lopez

Xavier Lopez is a producer for Code Switch. He came to NPR from CNN Audio, where he helped produce shows such as Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the inaugural season of Tug of War. Prior to that, Lopez worked at NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia, where he worked on shows such as The Pulse, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and the daily news podcast, The Why.

B.A. Parker

Lori Lizarraga

Award-winning journalist Lori Lizarraga is a co-host of NPR's Code Switch, the preeminent podcast about race and identity in America. Before joining NPR, she reported across the country in Texas, California, Colorado and internationally in Ecuador. She has a reputation for breaking news and a passion and energy for covering under-reported communities, civil rights and issues surrounding immigration and Latinos in the U.S.

Jasmine Romero