Last Updated on January 14, 2025 by BVN
Overview: James Baldwin’s quote, “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” from an old African American spiritual, Mary Don’t You Weep, is often misattributed to him. The quote is related to the biblical story of the flood and is used by Baldwin to stress the need for change in his book, The Fire Next Time. The quote has also been applied to the current wildfires resulting from climate change. The climate change deniers are obfuscating the root cause of the wildfires and proliferating lies about the causes, while the current wildfires are an imminent and growing danger to communities.
S.E. Williams
Although famed writer James Baldwin, is credited with the famous quote, “God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water, the fire next time!” It is actually rooted in an old African American spiritual, Mary Don’t You Weep.
The rainbow mention in the spiritual is in reference to the biblical story of the flood. God gave Noah the rainbow as a covenant promising there would never be another epic rainfall of such magnitude. Baldwin took the words “the fire next time” and used them to stress the potential for an epic societal conflagration of apocalyptic magnitude if this nation did not change its ways and learn from its history of slavery and begin to work toward social justice, The Fire Next Time, has often been referred to as prophetic, warning of what could occur if people don’t change.
In his narratives, Baldwin spoke of the prevailing injustices of his time including racism, homophobia, social injustices and the like that continue to occur today. When Baldwin published his book in 1963, he was focused on the Civil Rights movement. I wonder if he perceived how relevant his warning of a fiery apocalypse would become as it relates to the explosive wildfires resulting from climate change.
I’m sure he could not have foreseen this. And yet, the pressing need for change is as imperative regarding the issue of the changing climate as it remains for civil and social justice. Baldwin did not speak of climate change, but he left many other wise words for us to ponder which can certainly apply to the climate crisis. In a 1962 article titled, As Much Truth as One Can Bear, written for the New York Times Book Review he penned, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
The same forces, corporate and otherwise, that benefitted from slavery, that benefit from low wages, that benefit from federal grants to undergird their businesses, who are raping and polluting the environment, who resist and pour millions of dollars into defeating any effort to implement rules and regulations to govern and control their flagrant pollution of the environment and its resources for their personal gain, have pushed Mother Earth nearly to the point of nearly no return.
In addition, they are a wealthy and nearly impenetrable bulwark against almost any effort to save the earth for future generations as they now appear hell bent on taking their same penchant for greed and control to the far reaches of space. Is it possible that they have little regard for the earth because they are hoping to establish residency on another planet? I wouldn’t be one bit surprised.
The most egregious aspect of this whole scenario is despite what is currently being experienced in these first days of January, 2025, with fires raging; thousands of properties including homes, schools, churches and business being laid to waste; and lives lost, climate deniers–including the incoming president and his administration–are choosing to ignore the climate crisis. Instead they are working to obfuscate regarding the root cause of what is happening–a cause deeply rooted in human/corporate greed.
Instead, these climate change deniers are proliferating lies about the fiery devastation, blaming its cause on everything from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, to poor water management, to the protection of endangered species in the central part of the state. The list of irrelevant garbage spewed by these individuals appears unlimited.
If the current wildfires raging across the greater Los Angeles area have taught us anything, it is that regardless of the climate change deniers’ lack of purposeful actions to mitigate the threat, coupled with their hyperbolic rhetoric, these wildfires are a real and present danger to California communities up and down the state.
As the political battles rage on over whether climate change is real or how to stem and/or reverse course on the climate damage already incurred, we must simultaneously be ready “at a moment’s notice” should the inland region be in the path of “the fire next time.”
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
For a live incident feed of the fires in Southern California visit Riverside County Fire’s website, LAFD, or download the Watch Duty app that alerts users of current wildfires in their area.
