I am Not Your Negro James Baldwin and Race in America
This documentary had so much good information and content that I struggle to decide how to start my response. After watching, rewinding, rewatching certain parts of the documentary I think I will just include three quotes and my individual reactions to each.
"Apathy and ignorance is a product of segregation" - Balwin
This quote comes from an interview with Baldwin. He begins by talking about the effects of segregating blacks and whites. Keeping the blacks and the whites separate doesn't fix the so-called "black problem", but makes it worse. In turn people living in the white suburban neighborhoods are ignorant and apathetic towards the plight of Black American. These people hold on to the negative stereotypes that surround black people rather than understanding and realizing that this "problem" needs everyone to exist in order to fix it.
"I am one the people who built this country" - Baldwin
This quote reminds me of my middle school Social Studies teacher because he was the first person who made me realize why and how America was able to thrive and prosper during the formative years of our young country; free labor. Especially in the south, plantation owners wouldn't have been able to make such a profit if they actually had to pay labor costs. Once slavery was abolished and they no longer could exploit African Americans, some white people would just like them to disappear or at the very least stay away from their neighborhoods. Much like the Native Americans that came before, once they were of no use to the white settlers they were discarded like some sort of sub-human. This film does make connections between blacks and Native Americans regarding the unfair treatment they have received throughout history. I couldn't help but think of the readings from last week.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it"
If we don't realize that there is a problem in our country, nothing will changes. Yes, things have gotten better since MLK, Malcom X and the Civil Rights Movement, but if you think that there still isn't racism, bigotry, and even dare I say segregation in the United States of America then you are not 'facing' the problem.
Hi Leah, I felt how you did about the film, I too found it hard to choose what to write about, it was all so interesting. I like what you said under the quote "I am one of the people who built this country." When I first heard him say this I thought, you know what he has as much right as a White person to enjoy the prosperity of this country, but he was robbed of this opportunity, Blacks were unfairly left out, as if the physical, emotional, and psychological pain his ancestors were forced to endure was never appreciated, or acknowledged for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree!
DeleteI enjoyed reading your post and I agree. It is not often thought about that America was about to thrive and grow because of free labor. I was thinking a lot about the other readings as well and how the Native Americans and blacks unfair treatment has some similarities. It all seems to come from a place of fear, power, and selfishness. My way is the right way and I will do what I have to do to get what I want. This is a mindset that needs to be changed.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar reaction to the quote "I am one of the people who built this country." When I get the opportunity to teach early US history, students are shocked when we discuss that the White House was built using slave labor and we talk about John and Abigail Adams reactions to it in their correspondence back and forth. From the South's economic stability with slave labor, to the Chinese railroad labor, to the female workforce in WWII and subsequent removal from the workforce, there are many topics to discuss oppressed populations. It is a shame that curriculum does not reflect these lessons.
ReplyDeleteLeah -- I appreciate that you highlight the fact that this country was founded on slavery (and the appropriation of Indigenous land). Some race scholars point out that slavery wasn't so much an event or a phase -- that it's a process, and that we are today in fact living in "the afterlife of slavery." That is, in many ways, the core ideas that comprise slavery and the plantation are alive and well today, though they may take different forms...
ReplyDeleteSo our task as educators then is to think this through -- what are the forms of those forces today? How have we ourselves been shaped by them? What can we do to disrupt/oppose racism in/beyond the classroom?