I am Not Your Negro

To be brutally honest this film really pissed me off. Not because I found it offensive but because i related to it so damn much. To feel unwelcome on the land your born. But that is our unfortunate history, since the smallpox blankets. It is a rage that burns so deep and for so long that sometimes you do forget with the hustle and bustle of the day to day. but then you see a film like this and your reminded of the times you felt ashamed of those who gave you life simply because they spoke with an accent, and worried what your white friends think. Or that dreadful question when first meeting white friends parents " where your parents from? It's these emotions of shame,rage,anger,angst simply from being, that are the very reason i could not connect as strongly to Baldwin. Whereas Malcolm, Martin, and Melvin were soldiers who stayed and fought for their people, bled and died for their people, Baldwin was the "war historian" writing from afar, at times coming into country like the press do at war times. a historian's description can never carry the detail, passion, and truth as that of the soldier who put their life on the line in battle. it made me see Baldwin as a coward. He didn't want to feel the feelings we who stayed felt, so his voice can never be our voice, not truly.