Documentary film at Peninsula College explores race in U.S.

A documentary film, “I Am Not Your Negro,” which aims to present history from the Civil Rights movement to present day Black Lives Matter events, will be screened at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18.

The film presented by Peninsula College’s Magic of Cinema will be shown in the Maier Performance Hall on the Port Angeles campus, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.

This film is part of a social justice week at Peninsula College celebrating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Viewers who are curious about the film can learn more about it at a Studium Generale presentation at 12:35 p.m. Thursday in the Little Theater.

The presentation will feature Peninsula College student Nitasha Lewis and faculty member Helen Lovejoy who, along with discussing the film, will highlight the power of activism and witnessing in social justice movements.

Personal account

The documentary is based largely on Civil Rights writer James Baldwin’s personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript.

In “I Am Not Your Negro,” filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book Baldwin never finished. The result is an examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and a flood of archival material.

Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film explores the continued peril Americans face from institutionalized racism, organizers said.

In addition, the Peninsula College Library will feature a display called “James Baldwin and Civil Rights,” which can also be viewed online at http://bit.ly/2mtM8jt.

All three events are free and open to the public. Nonperishable food donations will be accepted at both the Studium and film screening.

Collected items will be given to the Port Angeles Food Bank in honor of Dr. King’s work with Operation Breadbasket.