Stacy Dillon-Chakour
Professor Piruz Alemi
Research Methods for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
February 1st, 2019
I am not your Negro
Baldwin was an African American playwright, novelist and social critic. He was born in Harlem, New York on August 2, 1924, and died in 1987. He wrote several books and was often outspoken about the struggles of what it means to be black in America. One of his books was I am not your Negro, which later became an Academy Award-nominated documentary film. In the next couple of paragraphs, I will summarize some important moments in that book.
In I am not your Negro, Baldwin gives his readers a snapshot of life in the 1960s for him and other African-Americans. He speaks about being friends with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evens. He tries to convey how different each man was from the other in their fight to make sure that black Americans were treated fairly and justly. Two statements at the start of the book, which really caught my attention were, “The moment a Negro child walks into the school, every decent, self-respecting, loving parent should take his white child out of that broken school” WOMAN IN THE SOUTH “God forgives murder and he forgives adultery. But he is very angry and he actually curses all who do integrate.” The latter shows that in the eyes of some white Americans, God was willing to forgive murder and adultery but found integration unforgivable. Both quotes showed the attitude of whites toward integration and their disgust with it.
Baldwin talks about a teacher and other influence in his life. This particular teacher had spoken to Baldwin of faraway places like Ethiopia and had even taken him to plays and movies. Said teacher supplied him with an abundance of books to read. This opened his mind in ways it might have not if he did not have such influence at an early age. The nature of the contents in one movie left a lasting impression on him. The storyline related to the black men and still does today. A white woman was raped and killed and her body was left where a black janitor worked. He states that the movie scarred and strengthened him after seeing the terrified look on the janitor’s face. The fact that this had taken place in the area the janitor worked automatically made him the number one suspect. I felt the terrifying look made him more aware that this is not just a move to lots of black people including himself. In life and movies, blacks and other people of color are always the killers, the rapist, the thief the nature of the contents. The roles of the whites were the victims, the damsel in distress, and the heroes. The reason I said it is a fact, is because most people, especially whites, tend to believe what they see in the movies or on television. It always seems surprising when it is not African American men or women. People of color and that stereotype, I believe just seemed to make it more real to Baldwin.
There is a powerful part in the book where Baldwin talks of sees Dorothy Counts being spat on as she walks to school and not a single person helps her. It was at this moment that he decided to leave France, where he had lived for many years, felt safe, and been away from all the hatred in America. He had felt ashamed for not being there and so he decided to return to America. He talked about not missing much in terms of food and places, although he had missed being home in Harlem on a Sunday and seeing his brothers, sisters and his mother because they made a difference.
The death of his friends Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evens seems to have weighed heavily on his mind. He talks about where he was when he found out about their passing and his relationship with each man and their families. He also talks about how he felt being at their funerals and his first impression of Malcolm X as he himself was giving a lecture in New York City. He stated that he was not a member of the Black Panther, Black Muslim, NAACP or the Christian congregation and this, he stated, was sometimes hard on his morale but he came to accept it as time wore on.
There are moments in this book I would love to forget but after reading the book I had to ask myself a question, have things in the United States of America gotten better? Yes, many things have changed over the years since the 1960s, and for that, I am grateful. At the same time, however, there are issues that we as human being need to address.
