I am not your negro
I am not your negro is a film which aims at surveying how the civil rights movement and the failures of America to entirely embrace it are still of relevance and continue in shaping our present times. During the period of James Baldwin’s demise in the year1987, he had written an unfinished book with 30 pages worth of content known as “Remember This House.”
Civil Rights Idols
The manuscript was a description of his fellow civil rights idols namely Medgar Evers., Malcolm X as well as Martin Luther King Jr., who he had a personal relationship with before they were assassinated. The death of the trio had affected Baldwin emotionally, and by writing this book he felt that it would help him tell their story, how they mattered to him and get him out of what he was feeling.
The Assassinations
Evers was executed at 37 years of age at his Jackson, Mississippi home on the 12th of June, 1963. Malcolm was assassinated at 39 years of age in Manhattan, New York on the 21st of February, 1965. Martin was killed in Memphis, Tennessee at 39 years of age on the 4th of April, 1968. This trio had similar beliefs and personal struggles even with their differences. They gave their very lives trying to fight for the same thing, their fellow man’s fundamental civil rights, no matter what everyone did it on their own, if politically controverting way. They hold sacred places in America’s civil rights history.
Raoul Peck's Continuation
Raoul Peck, a director, then tries to pick up from where Baldwin left off by weaving together the remaining loose plot threads using his own words. In this film video clips of Baldwin are featured during interviews and lectures. James Baldwin tried to explain the civil rights movement and the black life representativeness in an extraordinarily isolated and racialist culture in his narratives.
Social Justice and Racial Inequality
In this documentary, social justice continues to be seen as the literature is a strong indictment of the failures of America in rectifying the shameful history it has regarding racial inequality. Based on the documentary, a lot still needs to be done since the time the civil rights activists were violated during the 1950s and 1960s. We see a depiction of social injustice throughout the film and especially during the time Michael Brown who was an African American was killed by a white police officer. This film manages to show its viewers just how imperceptibly racial inequality was entrenched in movies from the time films were born until now and how the white and black audiences perceived them differently throughout. Through montage and the words of Baldwin, the movie analyzes images of white heroism, for instance, John Wayne, racial tolerance and the meaning of the Negro word itself.
Pursuing Change Non-violently
I do not believe as human beings we must use violence to show we are upset or unhappy about something. There are other better ways which do not cause any harm to others. Every human being has a right to life and freedom of expression. The assassination of Martin, Ever Malcolm and other African Americans were all wrong, and nothing can justify what happened. The film is a very emotional movie, and it is sad to imagine the pain and the suffering the African Americans went through during those times. The film shows that as a country, America has a long way to go on matters concerning racism.
Work cited
Peck Raoul, James Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson, and Samy Deluxe. I Am Not Your Negro . , 2017. Berlin Edition Salzgeber.
