In the beginning of the clip, Trevor Noah talks about the societal domino effect. He talks about how coronavirus has caused a unanimous feeling of uncertainty and talks about the mandate set in place requiring people stay in their homes. He also talks about how Black people are having to fight racism on top of coronavirus. As Noah states, a society based on a social contract is a group of people that agree on common rules, common ideas, and common practices. Even though the unspoken contract is set in place, people don’t always abide by it. There are people who are struggling financially or physically but still follow the social contract because they want the society to survive and exist.

A full citizen is someone who upholds the rules of society and maintains their part of the social contract. Noah goes on to talk about how everyone has signed the social contract, including Black people, yet Black people aren’t being respected by the social contract. For example, when Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed, his white murderers weren’t arrested for two months. If the roles were reversed, it is likely that Ahmaud Arbery would’ve been arrested immediately, even with the threat of police brutality. What I learned from Noah was that even though a social contract is set in place by the citizens of society, it does not honor every person who agreed to the contract. It favors some people over others, like White citizens over Black, and wealthy over poor. Because these people are discriminated against and oppressed, society is not upholding the contract by holding treating everyone with respect and honor.

The film, I am not your Negro, inspired by James Baldwin’s uncompleted book, dives into the racism and civil rights movement in America. It focuses on the mid 1900s during the times of Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers. I believe Baldwin chose to focus on these three men because they were all civil rights activists and advocates for the Black community. They were very influential in not only the Black community, but all of America. Their individual experiences allowed them to bring different perspectives when advocating during public speeches or interviews. Even though their thoughts and experiences may have not directly aligned, they all shared the same general ideas they were advocating for.

I was not expecting the film to have the number of photos and videos exhibiting the racism and oppression as it did. A lot of these images and videos I had not seen before, as there were only a handful I had seen like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Dorothy Counts. I think my biggest takeaway from this film is that Black people are still fighting major instances of racism that occur today that should’ve been left in the 1800 and 1900s, like with George Floyd. They are still fighting to be treated as equals in our society. Since the mid 1900s, it feels like America should’ve been more progressive by being more accepting and treating all races as equals, but it does not feel like that is the case. This fight doesn’t only apply to Black people, but all people of color as they too are still struggling with experiencing oppression and fighting for equality.