Baldwin vs Buckley

The 1965 Cambridge Union debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley is now viewed as an important moment in the discourse about race in America. Let's explore it.

Interestingly, a lot of ink has been spilled about the brief debate between the literary luminary and social critic, James Baldwin, and the father of modern American conservatism, William F. Buckley Jr., at The Cambridge Union in February 1965. I say this because in watching the debate itself and the loaded yet vague debate proposition - "The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro" - it is hard to see its effect on the trajectory of racial politics at that time. For instance, the Civil Rights Act had already become law. It’s also a bit of a stretch to see its historical relevance to race relations today or as a dividing line in partisan politics; other than the fact our discourse continues to circle the same questions and that progressive and left-liberal partisans are sometimes inclined to point to Buckley's position in this debate in order to score cheap points against conservatives and right-liberals. Personally, I think the debate does very little to even symbolize…