I Am Not Your Negro

After reading Rachel Kaadzi's Ghansah's essay about James Baldwin, and later seeing a documentary about him, it feels as though not a lot has changed. At least not enough. Racism during that time was extremely common and African Americans had to fight for their equality. Did they reach their goal? I say yes and no. While racism isn't where it was in the time of Martin Luther King or Malcom X, it has not vanished completely either. Today, we see it in places such as our schools, our jobs, and even from our president. There is so much left to be done and people who need to be educated. Racism is not behind us.

So, what does Baldwin's work say about us now? I say it's that we don't change. In a way, history repeats itself. We're in a turbulent time where everyone wants equality but those who have it are a limited few. I think it says the times we're living in are similar to the times Baldwin experienced himself. If you read the paper or watch the news, you hear about the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality, and it makes you wonder, or at least it makes me wonder, has anything really changed? It's important to start that conversation.