Netflix launches 'Black Lives Matter' collection to highlight Black voices

• Netflix curated a "Black Lives Matter" collection of movies, television series, and documentaries to tell stories about the Black experience in the US.
• "With an understanding that our commitment to true, systemic change will take time – we're starting by highlighting powerful and complex narratives about the Black experience," the Netflix Twitter account wrote on Wednesday.
• The collection features over 45 titles, including Ava DuVernay's "13th," Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods" (released Friday), and Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight."

As international demonstrations protesting police violence and the death of George Floyd continue, Netflix has launched a "Black Lives Matter" collection of movies, television series, and documentaries that tell stories about the Black experience in the US.

The list features over 45 titles such as Ava DuVernay's "13th" and "When They See Us." Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods," which is set for release on Friday, and Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" are also included in the collection.

"When we say 'Black Lives Matter,' we also mean 'Black storytelling matters.' With an understanding that our commitment to true, systemic change will take time – we're starting by highlighting powerful and complex narratives about the Black experience," the Netflix Twitter account wrote on Wednesday.

The account continued, "When you log onto Netflix today, you will see a carefully curated list of titles that only begin to tell the complex and layered stories about racial injustice and Blackness in America."

Netflix is also streaming several of the titles from the list — such as "13th," "Strong Island," and "Zion" — for free on YouTube.

The week after the Black Lives Matter protests picked up in the US, the 2011 movie "The Help" began trending as one of the most-watched offerings on Netflix in the US.

Insider correspondent Kim Renfro pointed out that the film, which is based off Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel of the same name, has been "touted as inspiring narratives about racism and the capacity for change in this country."

Renfro, like numerous critics, added that despite the positive messaging surrounding "The Help," the film and book have fed into problematic white savior narratives.

Even "The Help" actress Bryce Dallas Howard took the film's resurgence in popularity as an opportunity to tell audiences that the 2011 movie isn't the story they should be watching to learn about racial inequality.

"The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers," she wrote. "We can all go further."

Howard recommended nine films and shows for viewers "to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, and all the ways in which those have an impact on us today."

Several of the recommendations — like "13th," "When They See Us," and "Malcolm X" — are featured on Netflix's "Black Lives Matter" collection.

While Netflix didn't directly address the controversy surrounding "The Help" when the film began trending, the streaming platform did vocalize its support for the Black Lives Matter movement on May 30.

"To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter," the Netflix Twitter account wrote. "We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up."