Today I went to see my first movie by myself. I’ve gone tons of places alone, but never to the movies. I knew nothing about the movie, but the title intrigued me. I loved it. It was about James Baldwin, an African-American poet (and author). Baldwin had written, argued and explained the issues that plagued the black community during the sixties. The movie was based off of his unfinished book “Remember This House” The movie examined the lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, in order to explain black issues. It had clips from movies, police brutality videos, and literally everything in between. I cannot describe this movie in words, because there are no words to describe it besides powerful. I particularly liked one part of the movie. It was a clip of Baldwin explaining why he generalizes white people. I wish I remembered the exact words because his response was perfect. Basically he said that he does not know the feelings of individual white Americans, but he knows the institution they have created. A few times recently, I have been told that I generalize white America and that by doing so I might “offend” people, and quite frankly I was told that I offend her, that I make people uncomfortable and that I need to watch what I say so that I don’t offend people. It is not my goal to do this. It is simply that I cannot personalize the actions that have been done. In my mind, personalizing it is justifying it. I just try to discuss things so that hopefully, one day change will come. My goal is that I will inspire thought, which will lead to action. All in all, I definitely suggest seeing the movie, because it was amazing.
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