“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.“ I remember the first time I saw I Am Not Your Negro and the way it changed my life. I wasn’t too familiar with James Baldwin’s work prior to that moment. A huge misstep on my part. His words rang bells in the most hollow parts of my soul, filling them with the inspiration they longed for. How could I have lived 26 years without Baldwin in my life? Where would I be as a writer, right now, if I had been exposed to his work earlier? I often struggled with the kind of writer I wanted to be. I Am Not Your Negro ignited me, reaffirming my love for words. It put my yearn for writing into perspective and helped me define my voice. I studied film and television production in school. Screenwriting came easy but I always felt like I could do so much more. Fiction never truly resonated with me and poetry bubbles deep inside my soul sparingly. James Baldwin introduced me to the power of the essay. A different kind of essay. One that was creative but informational and...…
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