Kei Reviews: Soul Presents A Conversation with Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin
21 years before I was born, Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin sat down and had a phenomenal conversation.PBS has been producing bangers from the beginning and I love it. There are some very key points in the discussion that I want to point out because they are still heavy in conversation today.
I first want to say the amount of literature between Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin is extensive. I plan on taking a deep dive because clearly I have been missing out. I am very familiar with both as in how they pertain to black literature, but I had never consumed any of their works of art.
Tardy to the party, but here nonetheless.
The evolution of us as a people was a topic that continued to come up. Giovanni spoke about how the self-image that black people have for themselves was changing on a generational level. She brought us how we think more of ourselves in comparison to her parents and their parents. I think the shift continues today. Over time we have gone from following the rules, to bucking the system, trying to change the system. It definitely shows evolution. I believe the Black Power movement that was going on in Nikki's generation can be compared to the Black Girl Magic and Black Lives Matter movements of my generation. It was mentioned that the shift had a lot to do with not following the standard. It was mentioned that the more we know ourselves, the better we can handle our oppressors....making it easier to operate the game they have put us in.
There was...and still is a white majority standard when it comes to the way of living. The modes of perception had a lot of cameos during the conversation. A few statements that I loved were:
-There is a danger in romanticising reality.
-Many people accept the assumptions given to them.
-People perpetuate their own destruction
-I am only responsible for my point of view
All of these statements are so true, and all are good places to have a hearty conversation about growth.Teaching is revolutionary, as stated in the discussion. We have to continue to be willing to grow. How we speak is how we think, so we have to be very careful with our words.
The last thing has nothing to do with the content of the conversation, but just the set up itself. It was amazing to watch two greats in conversation. didn’t even speed it up and y’all know I’m good for having something on at least 1.5x.The skin was skinning. The hair was moisturized. What blew my mind was the chain smoking of cigarettes. I can remember when Missouri stopped allowing smoking inside of restaurants so I know tobacco being bad is a new thing. I just can't help but wonder if they would have been smoking joints if it were today. I don't think the conversation would have been much different. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?