Amend: The Fight for America

I've been googling a lot of names, thanks to this documentary. I learned a lot as an European citizen. I understand the promise, but I miss the voice of the native American.

Awesome up to the last episode when Grover Norquist was a spokesman in favor of equality. He has one single agenda, to keep the rich as rich as they can get off of the working class. Beyond his 3 or 4 interjections it was superb in its presentation, its scope and its choice of voices. I have to believe there was some reason GN got face time on this gem.

This documentary is absolutely amazing! A must-see for teenagers and adults! Will Smith is charming as always, and brings a hopeful tone to the depressive history of racism and inequality in the United States. The other actors who appear give a performance like in a theatre, quoting diaries, books and speeches of famous people, but are dressed in their normal clothes, and that gives a poetic tone to the documentary. All the scholars who appear have very interesting things to say. Nevertheless, there is a couple of "activists" that talk a lot and don't know much, and that's a bit tiring. I rather hear erudite people that really know about the history of the United States talk than young angry activists.

Nevertheless, there are some very important voices that are silent here: 1) Native American men, women and children. I would have loved to learn more about their history and their suffering (they are also citizens of the US, thanks to the 14th Amendment, but have been denigrated always -still are- and it's very sad that their history is not told here). If the makers of this documentary wanted to focus only on African-Americans for the 3 first chapters (that's what they do), then they had to change the title of the documentary. 2) Other leaders and movements that were not pacifist but very important too in the Civil Rights movement, notably Malcolm X and the Black Panthers (I personally liked Malcolm X's philosophy more than Martin Luther King's). Why is he not in the documentary? (well, he appears 2 seconds with a quote about women in the 4th episode, but it's completely absent in episodes "Resistance" and "Wait"). It's funny, since I know that Will Smith has always been a fan of Malcolm X (he appears with many shirts of Malcolm X in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and also mentions a lot the Black Panthers). But since violence against violence is not politically correct, Malcom X's voice is missing.

Because of these two very important missing voices I give this awesome, poetic and brilliant documentary a 9 and not a 10.

I was very touched by the performances of Mahershala Ali and Samuel L. Jackson. And Will is an amazing host, interesting, funny, super handsome and cool, as always.

I watched this documentary series with my older children (who are teenagers). I'm Spanish and didn't know a lot of important details about the history of slavery, the Civil Rights movement in the US and the 14th Amendment. I'm grateful to you because we learnt a lot. Thanks a lot and many greetings from Madrid / Antonia

This is a good introduction to the topic of civil rights in the USA during the last two centuries. It's easy to watch, well presented, and has good choices in music and actors/presenters that should make it appealing to those who are not particularly interested in long documentaries about civil rights. That, in itself, is an achievement.

Having said that, I must also point out that this is NOT a definitive guide to the topic it deals with. If you want to get a full history of civil rights in the country, use the documentary as a trampoline to help you reach other, more in-depth works. Because this documentary cuts on some details that in my opinion are very important.

I won't go in too much detail but I think episode 3 (about the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s) is a good example of this. The entire episode focusses on Martin Luther King's efforts to force John F Kennedy to act against racism, and finally the US President gives in and becomes a 'good guy' who does what was required. Two very important angles are missing. Firstly, the documentary makes no mention whatsoever of other civil rights leaders who also played important roles, such as Malcolm X or Stokely Carmichael. And secondly, the fact is that John F Kennedy did very little in the area of human rights, and it was his predecessor, Lyndon B Johnson, who actually implemented the defining civil rights legislation of the 20th century.

Leaving out such figures as Malcolm X or Lyndon Johnson is understandable because they were very complex and controversial characters. For the general public, it is easier to follow a storyline of good guys and bad guys, and Kennedy and King are both established good guys in American imagination. However, this lack of nuance means that the documentary doesn't quite convey how complicated the fight for civil rights really is.

Watch it and learn about the 14th amendment. Learn about some history. Just be receptive and thats it.