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It speaks volumes about our times, an era of racial divisions barely papered over by civility, that the words of James Baldwin, who died 30 years ago, strike the ear as frighteningly timely when they're heard in Raoul Peck's powerful documentary "I Am Not Your Negro."

That, of course, is Peck's point — that the racial divides Baldwin saw and wrote about, back when he knew the leaders of the civil-rights movement and explained African-American attitudes to black and white audiences, haven't disappeared and are in many ways as entrenched as ever.

"The story of the Negro in America is the story of America," Baldwin wrote. "It's not a pretty story." (Baldwin's words here are spoken either by him, in archival footage, or in narration by Samuel L. Jackson — and not since Quentin Tarantino had Jackson recite the Old Testament in "Pulp Fiction" has that voice been deployed so well.)

It is a story, Baldwin opines, that is seen differently on both sides of the divide. White people see John Wayne, for example, as the hero, settling the West for other white people to live and thrive. Black people saw something different, because they identified with the American Indians.

"All these stories are to reassure us that no crime was committed," Baldwin wrote. "We have made legend out of a massacre."

Baldwin saw two cultures, white and black, that reflected different worlds. White people had Doris Day, black people had Ray Charles. When black figures crossed over into white culture, they were presented to be harmless to white manhood. Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte were obvious sex symbols, but they weren't allowed to show it.

This Oscar-nominated documentary begins with Baldwin's proposal to his literary agent, in 1979, of a project to tie together three leading figures of the civil-rights movement: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. — all friends of Baldwin, and all murdered in their 30s.

"I want these three lives to bang against and reveal each other, as in truth they did," Baldwin wrote, "and use their dreadful journey as a means of instructing the people whom they love so much who betrayed them, and for whom they gave their lives."

Likewise, Peck finds in Baldwin's observations threads that bang against modern times. The police beatings of civil-rights protesters in Birmingham and Selma in the '60s are juxtaposed with the Rodney King video in 1991 or the confrontations in Ferguson, Mo. — making the case that things haven't changed as much as many people would like to think.

"The future of the Negro in this country is precisely as bright or as dark as the future of this country," Baldwin says. The tough, yet hopeful, message of "I Am Not Your Negro" is that Baldwin's words are as true now as they were then.

Twitter: @moviecricket —

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'I Am Not Your Negro'

A powerful documentary that reframes the words of James Baldwin, one of the great intellectuals of the civil-rights era, for a new generation.

Where • Broadway Centre Cinemas.

When • Opens Friday, Feb. 10.

Rating • PG-13 for disturbing violent images, thematic material, language and brief nudity.

Running time • 95 minutes