The reason why Baldwin didn’t complete this novel
between the eight years when he started and the
time he died wasn’t documented. However, he did
note how writing the book would require him to
visit upon the widows of the deceased and their
children.
He commented, “It means exposing myself as one
of the witnesses to the lives and deaths of their
famous fathers. And it means much, much more
than that—a cloud of witnesses, as old St. Paul once
put it.”
Considering the fate of Medgar, Malcolm, and
Martin, I can understand there were probably
numerous reasons that paused his pen. The continual murder of African American
leaders has left a community mute or at the very least with a severe case of laryngitis.
Some leaders in the African-American communities are more likely to lead jack-
in-the-box demonstrations than partake of tectonic shifts in the race narrative.
Some others are mired in the quicksand of indifference.
Today, as much as any other time in history, the documentary, I Am Not Your
Negro, resonates with a truth that kept the multicultural audience in the theater
mesmerized by words written decades earlier and yet completely relevant to
present day.
Baldwin declared, “The truth is that this country does not know what to do with
its black population, dreaming of anything like “the final solution.”
It’s not just telling of an era that brought about leaders powerful enough in
voice and action to motivate a community and force a change in the law as well
as the perceived superiority of white Americans. It highlights a systematic issue
with America and begs the question. Why does American society need to have a
‘nigger’?
To say this documentary is powerful would be to say the sun is a source of light.
Truthful, yet inadequate at the same time. Do I recommend it? It depends. If
you are ready to engage in a meaningful discussion about race in America, then
absolutely go see, stream, pre-order the movie, I Am Not Your Negro.