The film “I am Not Your Negro” was a painful and powerful film for me to witness. I really enjoy learning about the Civil Rights era and studying race relations in the US. I am a first-generation US citizen, with most of my family being from, and still living in, Kenya. Growing up, I lived in calm, safe, white suburbia. My family pretty much made up the entire integration for our town in Maryland. I really liked my neighborhood, but I did not realize how the shelter it proved actually blinded me. When I went to high school, I went to a pre-dominantly Black school in a pre-dominantly Black neighborhood (located near Southeast DC)  for the first time, and experienced a culture shock I never imagined I would ever experience. At first, the culture of my own people frightened and confused me, and I was taunted for being “not black enough” quite often. I really appreciate the intimacy of the pain and visions shared in “I am Not Your Negro” because it reminds me and encourages me to love the people that look like me more deeply and to love myself and my intersectional identities–to be proud of where my history has brought me and to not be ashamed to move forward.