The Fire This Time

Daniel José Older’s essay takes the form of a letter to his wife Natassian. He dates the letter “August 2015” (197) and begins by referencing his and Natassian’s conversation about the fear and hope informing their decision to have children. Natassian wants Older to explain to their unborn children why he writes, but he decides to write to her as he begins his piece. 

The couple recently traveled to Jamaica and observed Kingston’s nighttime streets while mourning Sandra Bland, a woman who died while in police custody. The words of Eqbal Ahmad, which Older learned in college, return to him: “...this out-administration occurs when you identify the primary contradiction of your adversary and expose that contradiction… to the world at large” (198). This quote connects with Older’s other favorite quotes that speak to the power of art to transform the world. 

The piece from which Ahmad’s quote comes advocates for protesters creating a more effective plan than that of their powerful adversaries. A year prior, Michael Brown died, which began the clash between the forces of the state and the many protesters who demonstrated across the country. Older associates the word revolution with fiction, American commerce, and the trauma of his father and uncle.