Black History Month DVD Review - I Am Not Your Negro
by Ceylan Karasapan Crow
Writer and playwright James Baldwin is one of the 20th century's greatest writers, Baldwin broke new literary ground by dissecting racial and social issues in american society in his many works. He was specifically known for his essays on the black experience in America, which established Baldwin as one of the top writers of the times. Exploring his own life, his courageous, unblinking look at the black experience in America through such works as Notes of a Native Son (1955) and Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (1961), opened up discussion where few had ventured with such defiance. Selling more than a million copies, "Nobody Knows My Name" was a bestseller. Baldwin emerged as one of the leading voices in the Civil Rights Movement for his compelling work on race, even though he was not a marching or sit-in style activist. This was hard on his morale but he understood that his role as a witness was more important in order to get the story out, as we hear him say in the movie.
“I am not your Negro”
When one is in an abusive oppressive situation the best one can do is leave the situation. That is exactly what James Baldwin did when he left the US to live abroad. He was astute enough to save himself as did other artists of the era. He loathed the term negro and hence the name of the documentary, “I am not your Negro”. Though he was born and raised in Harlem, Baldwin spoke in cultivated aristocratic tones, with the hint of a Continental accent that said: I am not of this place. With this absolute rejection of the racist terms of America Baldwin addressed something not spoken about even among the most prominent black artists of his day. It was not the racism itself - that so many rejected, that he was addressing; Baldwin, would not allow himself to ever be defined on white people’s terms, he was addressing the sickness behind the racism. That defiance is what also made him leave the United States. He found Europe more welcoming and encouraging of his writing and intellectual pursuits. In one clip in the movie, Baldwin is speaking at a debate hosted by the University of Cambridge in 1965, where his intellectual insights, were far more welcome than they were at home.
But Baldwin did not hate white people, because early on in elementary school he met a young white teacher named Orilla Miller. The young Baldwin Nicknamed her "Bill", and Miller was to have huge effect on Baldwin's life. “ She directed his first play and encouraged his talents. The two discussed literature and went to museums together. Miller even won Baldwin’s father’s permission to take James to the theater, an activity strictly forbidden by the elder Baldwin. Later, James was to give credit to Bill for her lack of racism. He explained that it was "certainly partly because of her, who arrived in my terrifying life so soon, that I never really managed to hate white people.”
The documentary puts the race problem in its correct truthful context. The problem is seen by Baldwin not one of black people but as one of the sickness within American society; the emptiness the frivolity and unmentionable cruelty it delivers especially to its African American populace. That frivolity, emptiness and in a sense 'sickness' is poignantly emphasized in the movie with disturbing clips of daytime American tv. Baldwin says “You cannot lynch me and put me in ghettos, without becoming something monstrous yourselves".
As we are watching John Wayne movie clips within the documentary, it touched me to the core when Baldwin recounts how a black child awakens to the reality that he is not part of the society and culture he thought he belonged to. Baldwin describes a 5 year old black child suddenly discovering his blackness and realizes John Wayne his hero is actually the one killing “colored” people (the Indians) just like his little self.
Baldwin worked hard to become a writer. After graduating high school he struggled for a long time to support his family and write, he was finally published professionally and it was a book review that launched his writing career. This book review was followed by a number of essays. His first work of fiction was published in October of 1948. A proposed project with a photographer friend about Harlem churches won Baldwin a Rosenwald fellowship. The fellowship did give Baldwin the money needed to make his long dreamed trip to Paris. It was in Paris that Baldwin came to really understand himself, his homeland, and his culture. The distance and the contrasting supportive social environment gave him perspective.
Even though an expatriate writer, Baldwin stayed active in events that shaped American culture. His role in the Civil Rights movement is very important and he divided his time between Europe and the United States to achieve this. He met with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and a host of other politically active people to help bring about real social change. He was often a participant witness and we see him in the movie take a trip to the south along side Medgar Evers. His beliefs on race and race relations inspired a large number of his essays and is the main thread in many of his novels.
