#I Am Not Your Negro

[odinsblog]

“Love has never been a popular movement. And no one's ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people.”

—James Baldwin, on life, love, despair and choosing who you want to be

[kemetic-dreams]

[dissidentlibrary]

That's when I saw the photograph.

Facing us, on every newspaper kiosk

on that wide, tree-shaded boulevard in Paris

were photographs of fifteen-year-old Dorothy Counts

being reviled and spat upon by the mob

as she was making her way to school

in Charlotte, North Carolina.

James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro.

[cinesludge]

Movie #66 of 2023: I Am Not Your Negro

James Baldwin: "You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves. And furthermore, you give me a terrifying advantage. You never had to look at me. I had to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me."

[pacingmusings]

Seen in 2022:

I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck), 2016

[faemarsh]

“You cannot lynch me and keep me in ghettos without becoming something monstrous yourselves. And furthermore you give me terrifying advantage.

You do not have to look at me. I have to look at you. I know more about you than you know about me.”

~ James Baldwin

[thecutestlittlebunbunfairy]

You do not need numbers; you need passion. - James Baldwin

[moviecinepelis]

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[now-watching]

Recommendations 56-60:

56. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992), dir. Michael Mann

“THE FIRST AMERICAN HERO.

As the British and French soldiers battle for control of the American colonies in the 18th century, the settlers and Native Americans are forced to take sides. Cora and her sister Alice unwittingly walk into trouble but are reluctantly saved by Hawkeye, an orphaned settler adopted by the last of the Mohicans.”

Availability: Available for rental via YouTube, AppleTV, VUDU, and Amazon.

57. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (2016), dir. Raoul Peck

“Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.”

Availability: Available on Amazon with a Prime subscription and for rental via YouTube, GooglePlay, VUDU, AppleTV, and Amazon. Also available on Hoopla and possibly Kanopy with (free) accounts.

58. TOMBSTONE (1993), dir. George Cosmatos

“JUSTICE IS COMING.

Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue their collective fortune in the thriving mining town of Tombstone. But Earp is forced to don a badge again and get help from his notorious pal Doc Holliday when a gang of renegade brigands and rustlers begins terrorizing the town.”

Availability: Available on Amazon with a Prime membership and can be rented via YouTube, GooglePlay, AppleTV, VUDU, and Amazon. 

59. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992), dir. Penny Marshall

“TO ACHIEVE THE INCREDIBLE, YOU HAVE TO ATTEMPT THE IMPOSSIBLE.

As America’s stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall). Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) on their way to fame. Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell co-star as two of the sisters’ teammates.”

Availability: Available on Amazon with a Prime membership and can be rented via YouTube, GooglePlay, AppleTV, VUDU, and Amazon. 

60. FIELD OF DREAMS (1989), dir. Phil Alden Robinson 

“IF YOU BELIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE, THE INCREDIBLE CAN COME TRUE.

Ray Kinsella is an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond. He does, but the voice’s directions don’t stop – even after the spirits of deceased ballplayers turn up to play.”

Availability: Available on PeacockTV with a subscription and available for rental on YouTube, GooglePlay, AppleTV, VUDU, and Amazon.

[The American Experience Film Recs]

[slowlikehoney1996]

[dissidentlibrary]

The blue sky seemed to descend like a blanket.

And I couldn't say anything,

I couldn't cry;

I just remebered his face,

a bright, blunt, handsome face,

and his weariness, which he wore like his skin,

and the way he said ro-aad for road,

and his telling me how the tatters of clothes

from a lynched body hung,

flapping, in the tree for days,

and how he had to pass that tree every day.

Medgar.

Gone.

James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro.

[little-tiffany]

Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

-James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro

[thecurvycritic]

Ancestry Prevails Over Greed, Money and Power in Silver Dollar Road

You heard about it with #BrucesBeach in SoCal, now the Reels family in N. Carolina are fighting for their land acquired during reconstruction. #silverdollarroad @primevideo

More than one-third of Black owned land in the South is heirs’ property.   What is this law? Heirs’ Property Law states that all heirs may agree to give ownership to one person. In other words, one heir may buy the others’ shares, or the others may voluntarily give their share to a single family member. In some cases, the heirs may agree to form a corporation or other entity to hold and manage…

[mad-prophet-of-the-airwaves]

I Am Not Your Negro (2016, Raoul Peck, USA)

[godrinati]

ah,