James Balwin talks about how sentimental it was to him and to all the families. How it hurt them in many different ways. Watching this film made me see things different. Made me feel grateful to what we have become in the world. There are things that are sad still going on in this world but we came a long way. The racism that was going on back then was a very sad thing and many families losing members.

Revenge of the Mouthbreathers

What is the main argument of this essay?

How well does the author support her argument? Do you feel convinced? Why or why not?

What part does the government play in this debate?

What question(s) do you have after reading the essay? 

If I Only Had a Leg

What does Up with Kids sound like from the essay?

What's the significance of the title? How is it related to the Scarecrow's song in The Wizard of Oz?

What purpose did performing on stage serve Greg Marshall as a child?

What is the lesson that Greg Marshall seems to learn when he doesn't get the role of the Scarecrow in high school? Is it a good lesson? Why or why not?

I Am Not Your Negro

The whole film was very dense with the perception of what Black America was at the time. We often like to think of our civilization as advanced or progressive, and although at times it is, I often see the same struggles just masked differently. Visually the film was well made with the archival footage of James Baldwin, MLK, Malcolm, and Medgar. I'm not sure if ironic is the correct word, but I did find irony in the film on how the same situations that happened in the civil rights area are so identical, that if the film were colorized it would be no different from our current time situations. While the film was moving and powering I couldn't help but feel hypocrisy towards Baldwin. For the same exact reason, Brian did. To preach about black struggle in America you should at least be in America and not in a gentle European country while your "friends" are hunted down. Although Baldwin does return, I could not feel the same emotional encouragement as Malcolm and Martin.

James Baldwins School Performance

When watching the the documentary in class I am not your negro we were recomemded to watch a perfomance at out collage related to James Baldwinds work, which I found pretty interesting so I decided to attend. I didn't really know what to expect when coming in to the perfomance but I was surpised when it began it was beautiful. Musicions performed jazz music which I found to like a lot. The musicians explained how this music related a lot to James Baldwin because jazz was really big when James Baldwin was growing up. They let the audience know about how this type of music helped many african americans get thorugh hard times and how they were able to express their felings though music by playing it or just creating it. I found it amazing and beautiful to learn about how music was a big part of history and how it allowed people come together in hard times.

I am not your negro

When watching the documentary I am not your negro I found it very interesting as it spoke a lot about many important times in history for african americans. It showed how much african american people fought for their freedom to live completetly free in America, to be treated as equals, and to feel comftarble living in a country they helped create and grow just as much as the white man. As I watched the documentary I felt really frustated and sad because seeing how much african americans fought for this freedom to live in peace and be treated as equals in America for many years it seems as though this racism still goes on today in America, maybe not as much throughout the time of the civil rights movement but racism could still be seen today. I feel like watching this documentarry helps people open their eyes about racism and show how it's still going on in America it helps people undestand that change needs to happen.

The Weight of James Arthur Baldwin

The fact that Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah was the first black intern at Harper's goes to show the lack of diversity that's still around. It brought out the fact that not much has changed. We live in a world where whites are the majority and everyone else who isn't is a minority. For Ghansah, the symbolaized the lack of representation. This led to an inner struggle for her because she started to wonder whether she got the internship because she was genuinely worthy of it, or if it was just because she was black. It discredits all her accomplishment that got her too where she was. It shouldn't have mattered what color Ghansah's skin was but at work, she couldn't seem to forget it. In her essay she says, "It was then that I was smacked with the realization that the walls weren't the only unusual white entities in the office- the editorial staff was strangely all white as well." (Ghansah 19)

It is vital that not just mainstream US publications have black editors, but that all other jobs represent them as well. Diversity brings people together by teaching them about different cultures, religions, backgrounds, and experiences. We learn about someone else's perspective, not just our own. It is important to be exposed to different types of people and learning to accept them. I think that if society doesn't see people of their race in these important positions, it develops this culture that it's because they can't reach that level of success. A little girl at school who see's a teacher who's black like her deserves to feel inspired that one day, if she wants, she can be a teacher too. A teenage boy should get to see the first black president the United States and feel excited that he has the chance to be one himself. Diversity, inclusivity, and knowledge is essential.

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.

I Am Not Your Negro

What does his work say about us now?
You can see how the past and the present in the film are pretty much the same situations.With the difference that this time people are trying to be less open with their opinions about civil rights and more importantly, America is trying to transmit an image of change when there is not.  However, this time media has a greater role than before. You can clearly see nowadays, how information is shared throughout the world faster and now people from different parts of the world are aware of what’s happening with the fights for the civil rights in the US. Therefore, there are more people support this cause not only in America but in several other countries. But, even with this support, people seem like they don't want to truly learn or even more, open their minds to changes. Although you can see some changes, for example, people are not that open about expressing their racism than before. Of course, that’s because they are gonna be judged not only for their country but worldwide (media's role). To clarify, America has made some changes in order to end the inequality, however, there are still things to learn and a long way to go in order to end with it.

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.

The City That Bleeds

Even though I thought the essay "The City That Bleeds" was boring, I read this essay many times to try to figure out what the author wanted to express. After that, I got the author's point. He informed that Baltimore was a tragedy anyway. As he mentioned, "Here in this courtroom, in this city, race and the future seem so intertwined as to be the same thing."(Lawrence, 45)  Because of the racial discrimination, Baltimore's poor future and black political control that they absurdly applied the white social order to the black community, many people who were protesting against the unjust killing of  people failed, and these caused the tragedy happened in Baltimore in 2014.

James Baldwin

The essay we're reading this week and the documentary film we're screening are both about James Baldwin. James Baldwin was one of the most important American writers (fiction, essays, plays, etc.) at mid-century. He was also an impassioned advocate and voice for US Civil Rights justice.

The film we're screening, I Am Not Your Negro (dir. Raoul Peck, 2016), is made up mostly of the words of James Baldwin. In addition to many filmed and recorded interviews, actor Samuel L. Jackson speaks the written words to several of Baldwin's texts. One of these texts was his unfinished manuscript Remember This House, a proposed book-length exploration of the lives and deaths of three important Civil Rights leaders who were friends of his and all assassinated young: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some questions I have:

• After watching this film and reading Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah's essay about him, what do you think his significance is for US readers in the 21st century? Or, put another way, what does his work say about us now?
• Had you ever heard about Baldwin? Had you ever read any of his work? Based on Ghansah's essay and Peck's film, what do you make of his work? What is it like?
• Why did Ghansah go to Baldwin's house in Southern France? Why does anyone go to the home of a now-dead historical figure? What does it mean that the house was allowed to fall apart, that it's being torn down, and that it will soon have luxury condos on its site? See here for images of before and after: https://lithub.com/the-last-days-of-james-baldwins-house-in-the-south-of-france/
• What is your sense about why Baldwin moved from the US to France? 
• Why is it significant that Ghansah was the first black intern and that there had never been a black editor at the 150-year-old magazine (Harper's) where she worked ? Is it important that mainstream US publications have black editors (or other editors of color)? Why or why not?
• What questions do you have about James Baldwin?

Sparrow Needy/ The City that Bleeds

Prior to reading The City that Bleeds, I didn't know about the Freddie Gray case. I found it really interesting to read about what it was like to grow up in Baltimore and the struggles that often came along with it. I think the city plays an important role to the story in the sense that it's where it all starts. The death of Freddie Gray, the trials of the police officers, and a place of reflection for the author. It was where his grandparents migrated and later more of his family members did too.I believe the quote about race and the future being, essentially, the same thing means a person's race will determine everything else, whether it'd be good or bad.

Sparrow Needy had similar themes as The City that bleeds (suspense, race, loss) and I felt for the author who lost his brother Paul due to alcoholism. Lynwood was definitely like a father figure to the author. He wanted him to get out of Harlem, going as for as checking his grades when he'd receive them. The essay shows two different outcomes of growing up in Harlem. One could get out of there successful, happy, different, like McClane later was, and Lynwood was a supporting factor throughout. However, it also shows the complete opposite. It showed how someone could lose themselves to things like drugs and alcohol like Paul had done to himself. He died before he could truly make something of himself. I get the sense that the author was purposely trying to show what could happen and in his fortunate case, in part thanks to Lynwood, what did happen.