I Am Not Your Negro

This final section begins with Baldwin calling Whiteness “a metaphor for power,” which resonates with the theme of race as a social construct that has been created to fulfill certain White social needs. By saying that the world is not White, Baldwin manages to communicate multiple ideas: the idea that Whiteness is not inherently natural or inherently superior; and the idea that White people are in the minority in the world, even if they wield a majority of financial and political power. Both of these ideas suggest that the American social order is impermanent and may be changed.

This section is primarily composed of an interview with Baldwin, from a public broadcasting documentary that also features King and X. In this interview, Baldwin lays out the figure of the dehumanized Black person, arguing that because this figure has been invented by White people, White people must have some need of it. Based on Baldwin’s statements in the rest of the book, he likely believes that this is based on White people’s need to protect their own position and supposed purity by creating both a real subjugated class and an imaginary symbol of that class. Supremacy can only exist as long as someone is subjugated—therefore, the creation of a figure that justifies Black subjugation protects White supremacy.

During this interview, Baldwin also says that he has to be an optimist to avoid reducing human life to a matter of academics. He believes optimism is necessary to fight for political or social change. One can be a pessimist if one only wants to analyze the world, but this position requires intellectual distance. For practical action and real change, hope is an imperative. Outlining this tension also shows, again, the blurred lines between being a witness and being an actor. Baldwin says that he must be an optimist in order to keep fighting, suggesting that his role as a writer is inherently political.