James Baldwin: I Am Not Your Negro | Panel Discussion

When: Aug 28, 2020 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: I Am Not Your Negro Panel

The Academy Award-nominated documentary film I Am Not Your Negro (Netflix) (Youtube) is our jumping off point for a fascinating conversation with community leaders on the current social and political climate in the United States. Panelists—an activist, a life coach, a filmmaker, and an art critic—will offer their insights on recent racial justice movements and how national issues are playing out locally in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. A public Q&A will follow the panel.

This event is hosted in partnership with S.A.L.T. Committee for Equity & Justice. 

I Am Not Your Negro is available to view on Netflix and Youtube. Watching the film prior to the panel is recommended, but not required, to enjoy and appreciate this event.

The Film

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, “Remember This House.” The book was to be a revolutionary, 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. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.

Panelists:

Shirley Felder is the founder of Ordinary Greatness and president of the Sullivan County branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life & History. She is a mother, mentor, landlord, business owner, recycling fanatic, international motivational speaker, and certified life coach. Shirley mastered the art of modern multitasking and diversification while helping people realize the Greatness in Ordinary! She was able to gracefully transition from being the CEO of a multimillion dollar garbage and recycling center to evolve into a metal refuse and become a certified life coach. Her workshops bring teams together with a little bit of humor and fun loving honesty. She encourages members to march to the beat of victory as they align within their mission, lean into their strengths, confront weakness, drop the trash talk and work to diversify their ability by communicating with ease.

Judy Balaban grew up in the holocaust survivor’s ghetto of Washington Heights. She came of age in the early 70’s, living in Israel and traveling through Iran and Afghanistan by bus. Judy started Wellness Home Care from her kitchen and has continued to care for people in their homes for the past 37 years. In 2000, Judy became a facilitator for the ADL, addressing bigotry. Judy served on the Sullivan County Human Rights Commission since it’s inception in 2005 until early 2020 and presently serves on the Committee for Equity and Justice, a sub-committee of SALT.  She is a momma bear…don’t mess with her cubs.

Anthony Q. Artis is a veteran filmmaker and the founder of Mighty Ant Media, a creative video production company. Since graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Anthony has spent more than 25 years in the industry producing, directing and shooting video for major brands, television and feature projects. Artis is also the author of the bestselling “Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide”, “The Shut Up and Shoot Freelance Video Guide”, and a featured video instructor on LinkedIn Learning (lynda.com) with more than 20 hours of instructional video courses on filmmaking. Anthony is also an Adjunct Instructor of Film and TV at N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts where he has taught documentary lighting, camera and audio production to multiple generations of aspiring filmmakers for more than 18 years.

Carlo McCormick is a critic and curator based in New York City. Over the past 40 years he has written essays for hundreds of books in a dozen different languages, contributed to numerous national and international publications, and was for over thirty years at Paper Magazine, where he was senior editor. He has taught at San Francisco Art Institute, Sotheby’s Art Institute and Yale University as well as lectured at universities and museums around the world. He has curated many major exhibitions for institutions including the International Center of Photography, the Museum of Sex, New York University, PS1, Red Bull and the Warhol Museum and is currently working on museum shows for Beijing and Moscow.

Moderated by: Ellyane Hutchinson (Artist & Gallery222 Coordinator, Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre) & Dayna Halprin

Other Resources / Further Reading

ACTION Steps Resoures Page

Article by Faena Aleph
ARticle: James Baldwin, a Guide in Dark Times By JoAnn Wypijewski