{Watch, Read, & Listen} I Am Not Your Negro, The Black Kids, & Three Black Chicks podcast

♥ watch, read & listen is a weekly feature where I share and recommend

my current movie, book, music and podcast obsessions every monday. ♥

Watch: I Am Not Your Negro on Netflix (2016)

I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America.

Raoul Peck's Oscar-nominated documentary is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

Created by Raoul Peck

Written by James Baldwin, Raoul Peck
Starring Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson

Read: The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, this unforgettable coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots.

Los Angeles, 1992

Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of senior year and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer.

Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids.

As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson.

With her world splintering around her, Ashley, along with the rest of LA, is left to question who is the us? And who is the them?

Publication date: August 4, 2020

Listen: Three Black Chicks podcast

Friendly reminder that Black lives still matter and that Black Lives Matter protests are still going on around the world -- Continue signing petitions (updated often), donating (if/when you can), protesting safely, emailing/calling your reps/AG/DA, register to vote/vote-by-mail, and educating yourself and family members. More ways to help support Black people and the movement can be found on BLM's official Linktree. More resources can be found on the sidebar as well. ➔