I Am Not Your Negro

Description

In the summer of 1979, James Baldwin was preparing to write about the murders of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, but only set down 30 pages of notes and never completed the book. Taking these writings as a focal point, director Raoul Peck has made an unforgettable work about the Black experience in America. While the lyrical and profound words are completely Baldwin’s (read by Samuel L. Jackson when not spoken by the writer himself), the choice of images belongs to Peck, and he has assembled a mighty range of newsreel footage, photos, and even film excerpts to bring the writer’s manifold points home. Prophecy was integral to Baldwin’s work, and Peck demonstrates it by subtly juxtaposing footage from present-day killings of Black youths alongside the calamities of the Civil Rights era. Revealing the moral and emotional deficit that is revealed by racist thought and action, Baldwin’s words and Peck’s important and revelatory documentary help propose a new way forward.

Film Details