Re/member This House
How James Baldwin’s penetrating insights can be traced back to personal experiences
“The tragedy is that most people who say they care about it do not care at all, they only care about their profits and safety.” — James Baldwin
Released in 2016, I Am Not Your Negro recounts the life of the famous playwright and author James Baldwin (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson). Based on an unfinished memoir called Remember This House, many quotes from the film are taken directly from Baldwin’s manuscript. The movie went on to be nominated for an Academy award and won the BAFTA award for best documentary. The documentary is centered around Baldwin’s reflections on the lives of his three close friends, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and Medgar Evers. Baldwin, living in the crux of the civil rights movement, was an important civil rights figure in his own right.
“If we were white, our heroes would be your heroes too. Malcolm X would still be alive…when the Israelis or the Poles pick up guns and say ‘give me liberty or give me death,’ the entire white world applauds. When a Black man says exactly the same thing, he is judged a criminal and treated like one.” — James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s unique and insightful perspective is timeless, and provides revelations about the current trans-social climate in the United States. A particularly poignant statement that stood out was Baldwin saying that most people who claim they care about civil equality “only care about their profits and safety.” After the the George Floyd protests, I have noticed a similar hypocrisy. People who had been saying the N word and blatantly racist things one day suddenly did a 180 and started “advocating” for civil rights the next. The fact that James Baldwin was able to identify something so ingrained in American Culture that it has persisted for a century is amazing, and serves to validate his other assertations.
Baldwin is especially compelling when comparing MLK and Malcolm X’s different approach toward civil rights. Baldwin factors in things such as religion, community, and upbringing into the equation, and manages to produce reasoning behind their wildly different actions. Baldwin does an exemplary job of imagery as well, making the viewer feel the sting of discrimination. Baldwin’s own perspective is brutal, and is idealistic in little aspects. He paints the picture of the civil rights movement being a death sentence, with Malcom, Martin, and Medgar all dying before the age of 40.
Baldwin was an exemplary author, and his writing prowess is most notable when he perfectly conveys his nostalgic and bittersweet memories of his friends as well as his dearest wish for the future. Being able to communicate abstract ideas that come directly from the heart is a sign of a masterful author, however, Baldwin does it with one word.
Re/member
The first word of the manuscript, grammatically used the same as “remember” tells the readers two things. When combined with the title of the memoir: “Remember This House”, it shows Baldwin’s desire to recall and reassemble the heroes of the Civil Rights Era. The Civil Rights Movement is symbolized by the word “House”. Re/member implies an incessant desire to rebuild the civil rights movement with new leaders resembling Baldwin’s late friends.
The title can also be taken literally, as Baldwin mourning the early deaths of amazing and world changing figures. He never wants his friends to be forgotten in the dregs of history, and wishes for their message to live on in their stead. He wants the House they built together to live well into the future. With one word, Baldwin expresses his grief over the past and his hope for the future.
Two months after the assassination of MLK, Baldwin appeared on the Dick Cavett Show with Yale professor Paul Weiss, who taught philosophy. Weiss criticized what I at first believed to be Baldwin’s greatest flaw, the fact that he sees everything through the lens of race, and is either incapable or unwilling to switch paradigms. Weiss believes that their shared interests as intellectuals are more important than their racial differences.
Baldwin’s response is perfectly articulated and exemplifies his point of view and the basis of his worldview. He claims that Weiss’s perspective is valid only as an ideal, and the reality of the situation is such that the institutions have such deep ties to racism and white supremacy that it’s apparent in every second of every day in the lives of African Americans.
“I don’t know if white Christians hate negroes or not, but I know we have a Christian Church which is white and a Christian Church which is black… I don’t know if the real estate lobby has anything against black people, but I know the real estate lobby is keeping me in the ghetto. I don’t know if the board of education hates black people, but I know the textbooks they give my children to read, and the schools we have to go to.” — James Baldwin
Weiss has no counter because he has never witnessed firsthand the injustice the African American community had to face daily. Baldwin’s perspective comes from real-world experience, whereas Weiss’s perspective is formed from abstract philosophy and critical thinking. Since the issue they are discussing is one that is less prevalent in philosophy and is much more present in the real world, Baldwin’s approach is more compelling.
In breaking down Weiss’s argument, Baldwin broke down mine as well. I will never be able to experience the reality of racism in the 1960s, therefore I have no choice but to take a more philosophical approach to the movie and situation, just as Weiss did. Weiss identified and explained an ideal that Baldwin had never experienced, and was, in essence, asking Baldwin to risk his life and family on an idealism which he had never seen. It’s films such as I Am Not Your Negro that convey the dark reality of the immense amounts systemic racism in America on a personal level, rather then being taught only the events and the people involved in the civil rights movement. I Am Not Your Negro brings a level of emotion and clarity that is impossible to experience in any history class.
It comes as a great shock around the age of 6–7 that when Gary Cooper killing off the American Indians, when you were rooting for Gary Cooper, the Indians are you. It comes as a great shock to discover that the country, which is your birth place, and to which you owe your life and your identity has not in it’s whole system of reality involved any place for you.”
— James Baldwin
