Why "I Am Not Your Negro" just snatched my entire life

I was really looking forward to seeing Raoul Peck's take on James Baldwin's words. I was NOT anticipating leaving the theater as a ghost, as my entire life was taken from me during the 90-minute visual and auditory masterpiece that is "I Am Not Your Negro".

While there are many parts one could wax poetically about, one particular aspect became clear to me in the juxtaposition of old clips and new images presented by Peck.

In a clip from a 1920's motion picture (the name has escaped me), a White slave owner is in the field playing hide-and-seek with Black slave girls. After the girls "surprise" the owner, they form a circle around her and play ring around the rosie.

If this distortion of slave times was not already disappointing to me, what appeared on the screen next made me consider just how purposeful this imagery was to rewriting history.

The text--paraphrased--stated that the slave owner was kind to her slaves, as were most slave owners of the south.

Just imagine - chattel slavery was not based on torment, fear, and demonstrable violence, rather, games, camaraderie, and excitement for all.

Socialization is the way in which we teach others about a norm. We often tell kids to look both ways before they cross a street, or paint children's rooms a certain color based on their sex. We even tell children how to deal with the racial world around them. In this last example, the racial socialization we deal with is based on the object of the enactment, that is, the society enacts discriminatory actions on our youth, thus, they need to be prepared.

The movie clip reminded me that, in fact, the subject of racism has continuously been shown in a flattering light. Imagine all of the positive things you've ever heard about slavery - that slaves were treated well, that the "workers" were brought over from Africa, that it was a way for culture and religion to transpire among the slaves. Do you notice anything that's missing from this text?

Who were the people involved in the treatment, the bringing, the transpiration?

Photo of advertisements for slaves at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Most narratives purposefully leave out the subject of the sentence as a means to absolve them of any blame.

In the case of last night's clip, moreover, if the subject is mentioned, she is shown to be beneficent, kind, and good-hearted.

When we fight the post-racial commentary of today, we have to be mindful that there are two prongs. The first deals with the state of Black Americans - have they improved upon metrics from the past? Are there more opportunities for them than in prior years? Have some made it past this threshold that was previously only reserved for White Americans?

But the second. Oh the second. The second deals with the way in which we revere Whiteness. The way White people have been absolved from the wrongs that were and ARE committed. The way in which inexperience is still better than Blackness. The belief that is so pervasive that even if Black people had unbridled access to the American dream, the way in which we have been socialized to appreciate Whiteness would still advantage White citizens over anyone else.

If great effort was taken to sell the narrative of Black stereotypes--even when Blacks were selected as hard-working labor, expert mothers, and brilliant scholars--why would the packaging of White absolution be any different?

It is time to address the facts and confront why stereotypes of all people, specifically Whites, came to be in modern-day America.