2. The Black Power Mix Tape (2011)
There is perhaps no movement or social phenomenon less understood in American history than the Black Power movement of the late 1960s. Often times Black Power activists are presented as simply violent radicals, who carried guns everywhere and wanted to kill white people which is pretty ironic considering the same people who were criticising African Americans with guns, had no problem with white people carrying guns everywhere. The Black Power Mix Tape is a documentary that attempts to correct the record a bit. It is perhaps unsurprisingly the product of Swedish journalists who recorded the footage between 1967 and 1975 (American journalists wouldnt have been interested in a counter narrative like this), but sadly didnt get to produce anything with it. The footage was then discovered a few years ago, and crafted into a film by Goran Olsson, who presents a counter history of the movement which doesnt toe the official narrative which dictates Black Power activists had to be the bad guys. The film is wonderful as it features real interviews with movement icons such as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, and Bobby Seale, and we get to see the origins and developments of the movement through their words, rather than the words used by outsiders. It is candid, revealing, and informative and considering the lies and fabrications presented about the Black Power movements origins and aims, it is a refreshing counter narrative that needs to be seen by as many people as possible, so that an understanding of how and why Black Power emerged is clear, and understood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mzr-GxlQJs