Race and Ethnicity Implications in 'I Am Not Your Negro' Essay

This essay analyzes the film 'I Am Not Your Negro,' exploring the implications of race and ethnicity as depicted through the lens of writer James Baldwin's work. The essay examines the film's portrayal of racial discrimination, the civil rights movement, and the historical and political contexts influencing these issues. It discusses the film's impact on rethinking societal perceptions of race, particularly the relationship between white and black communities, and the stereotypes associated with the black community. The analysis highlights the movie's critique of the glossy reality of American society and its exploration of the personal and social lives of those affected by racial bias. The essay references the concept of race as cultural differences and the role of ethnicity in perpetuating bias and prejudice, ultimately arguing that the narrative presented in the film can be utilized to realize that freedom and liberty was only supposed to belong to the life of the white.

Running Head: RACE AND ETHNICITY
Race and Ethnicity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2
RACE AND ETHNICITY
The aim of the paper is to discuss the implication of the race and ethnicity related
issues as it has been depicted in the movie I am Not Your Negro. The course of the film
would be discussed in the course where the implication of the race and the ethnicity related
factors in the life of the people who have been victimized under this. The movie has been
made to revolve around the character of the writer James Baldwin and the book of his
regarding the factors of the race and ethnicity in the course of the book that has been written
by him.
The movie had allowed the audience to rethink the aspect of the race. ‘Give me liberty
or give me death is applauded when it is spoken by the white men. However, while the black
men utters these words he is a criminal”. The movie resembles the communication between
the subject and the filmmaker in an uncanny manner. The impact of the movie has been noted
in the scope that it provides in rethinking the nature that has been adopted in the due course
of the action. The general correlative between the supremacy of the people with white
background has been noted in the scope that the movie provides the audience to rethink about
(Peck et al., 2017).
The movie talks about the relationship between the relation between the race in an
context of the civil rights movement that has taken its shape in the US. The movie deals with
the struggle of the central character in achieving their equality (John & Marc Bélanger,
2015). The movie also includes the historical, political as well as the impact that has been
cast on the political domain of the racial discrimination. The movie had complied the visual
narrative through the entire twenty century in elucidating the mass impact that it had created
on the life of the people discriminated under its effect (Peck et al., 2017).
The dialogue as it has been discussed in the earlier part of the essay can be linked
with the stereotypes that has been related with the black community. However, in terms of

3
RACE AND ETHNICITY
the black community such association with the discrimination and the prejudice that has
come along with it in its way. Racism is a greater form of prejudice perpetrated on the basis
of the origin and skin cooler of the people concerned. The consideration of the black people
as not worthy of human being and thereby should lack an access to the freedom and liberty is
deep rooted in the prejudice that consider themselves as superior in the race. (Peck et al.,
2017). The movie acts as a critique of the glossy reality that had been imposed upon the
people of the country. The interface has been between the social and the personal life of the
people who had been effected in the run (John & Marc Bélanger, 2015). The movie
highlights the regular conception regarding considering the black people as the enemy of the
whites and the consideration of the whites as the saviors of the society. As such the crude
reality of the scenario has been rooted in the fact that on the underneath of the optimistic
worldview of the Americans lie the dark reality where the people of the black origin had been
continuously discriminated upon in an effective manner (Peck et al., 2017).
The race has been referred to as the differences that exists between the individuals on
the basis of the groups and different the cultures. However, the implication of the race is
significant only when the differences are of cultural significance for a community where they
are being implied. The culture of the white people have taught them to be the superiors where
they are taught to discriminate against the people of colours (Peck et al., 2017). The ethnicity
of the people in reference to their background and the racial supremacy that they used too
nurture acted as the primary source of bias and prejudice that they nurtured. The black people
were treated less than a human, subjected to the domination of their white masters and to
server their need (John & Marc Bélanger, 2015). The liberty is a luxury for them and
complete emancipation was a myth for them. As such, the narrative that has been quoted in
the course of the movie can be utilized to realize that freedom and liberty was only supposed

4
RACE AND ETHNICITY
to belong to the life of the white, however, a black man expressing the desire to attain the
liberty would be looked down up as a sinner (John & Marc Bélanger, 2015).

5
RACE AND ETHNICITY
References
John D. Carl & Marc Bélanger, eds. (2015). Think Sociology. 2nd Canadian ed. Toronto,
ON: Pearson.
Peck, R., Baldwin, J., Grellety, R., Aigui, A., Jackson, S. L., Deluxe, S., & Barbéris, M. H.
(2017). I am not your Negro (Vol. 230). Altitude.