"A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom"

Amiri Baraka’s statement presents freedom as an absolute state of being rather than a spectrum or a result of incremental progression. His words reject the concept that freedom can be learned gradually, mastered through stages, or approached in measured steps, there is no training period, no preparatory phase as one might encounter in a craft or trade. The idea of an “apprenticeship for freedom” suggests a period during which one is only partially free, under guidance or supervision, awaiting eventual qualification or full status. Baraka dismisses this, arguing instead that freedom is immediate and indivisible; one either exists in its fullness or not at all.

This perspective can be read as a powerful challenge to systems or ideologies that attempt to ration or regulate liberty, those that hold out the promise of eventual emancipation while maintaining hierarchies, dependency, or subordination in the present. It raises the question of whether societies, institutions, or individuals can legitimately postpone or stagger access to true freedom, holding it out as a future reward rather than an inherent right. Such an approach, Baraka implies, is inherently flawed or even deceptive. The supposed steps or milestones toward freedom, if imposed or controlled by another power, are in reality barriers that maintain unfreedom.

Baraka’s assertion urges a recognition of freedom as a universal and immediate entitlement, not something that must be earned, bestowed, or patiently awaited. It calls attention to the urgency of justice and personal autonomy, refusing compromise or complicity with gradualism where basic human dignity is at stake. The dichotomy he draws, free or not free, compels individuals and societies to confront the totality of their condition, to reject half-measures, and to struggle for the full, unmediated realization of liberty. The statement bears particular resonance in political, social, and personal contexts where the promise of liberation is too often deferred, urging direct action and clear-eyed assessment of one’s status.