Know Your Baldwin

“Not everything faced will be changed, but nothing will change until it is faced” – James Baldwin.

James Baldwin is a dignified figure in African American history. Baldwin’s work is more relevant now than it has ever been with the state of the country under the new presidency. We are more divided now, more than ever. After just coming down from her award season high, Janelle Monae along with a few of her famous and racial conscious friends gathered together to record a segment entitled, ‘Know Your Baldwin’. ‘Know Your Baldwin’ is working as extension of the Oscar nominated documentary, ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ based on the unfinished manuscript of Baldwin’s entitled, ‘Remember this House’.

The documentary focused on the history of racism through the eyes of James Baldwin and what he saw from civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. Short video feature stars like Monae, Samuel L Jackson, Lupita Nyong’o, Chris Rock, Common, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Yara Shahidi, Jidenna, the documentary’s director Raul Patrisse and many more. “These artists and activists are echoing the past to contextualize the present”. If we, as a people, don’t remember it, the past is bound to repeat itself. I am not your negro, I am not your servant, I am not your prize.

I strongly advise everyone to watch this clip, go see I Am Not Your Negro, and ‘Know Your Baldwin’.

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