“The praxis of Afro-Futurism is both a practice of liberation and a means of discarding aspirations, possessions, and entitlements that encode the terms of our oppression in prescribed identities. This is not a call for dispassionate transcendence from our social reality; invisibility is only a description of how we are positioned within a hostile world. Afro-Futurism viewed this way is the promise of insurrection against a hegemonic present. We are not looking for harmonious coexistence with any form of exploitation. We, Afro-Futurists, are creating the potentiality for self-realization in a future social reality that makes space for us to be safe within our own bodies.” -M.I. Jazz Freeman | The Invisible Future in Our Present
It’s not news to anyone to say that black cultural, political, and socio-economic life in America has undergone a renaissance of sorts. An upwelling of fervor, dreams, insights, rage, creativity, vision, and determination have all marked the increase of black visibility in the public arena. And yet, this new reality, a cyclical reappearance of unapologetically black social currents in the media, in the streets, and in the public imagination are all born from the profound contradictions we have been forced to acknowledge. Two terms of America’s first black president alongside ritualized police murders of black-life, a rise of white apologism for an accumulating white supremacist violence that destroys black bodies. We saw a dramatic increase in deportations, the emergence of drone warfare, and an economic crises that prompted a new wave of political movements against inequity, followed by an uprising of black lead direct actions and black revolt. It is in these various contexts that the visibility of blackness is more present than ever before. The opportunities for expression, the platforms for protest, and the historically significant struggles we find ourselves within have inspired and ignited showcases of black life — real as well as creatively re-imagined. It is not a coincidence that this era has given birth to a resurgence of Afro-Futurism.
Afro-Futurism is the practice of constructing new ways of existing, retrieving the past ancestry of the black diaspora, inventing styles of presenting ourselves in the world, and projecting our visions of how we would like to see ourselves in the future. There are a number of figures who stand out in our collective memory as highly imaginative and sharply perceptive of what was their reality. Octavia E. Butler and Sun Ra are a few who have passed away only to have new generations engage and ultimately embody their work today. Despite this stirring in the cultural life of black americans, there exists a significant gulf — a distance between intentions and practices in this movement and I would like to focus my attention on those differences. In doing so, I hope to uncover some salient lessons and distinctions that lay beneath the surface of Afro-Futurism.
An indisputable element of Afro-Futurism is its aesthetic. It is this difference from the normal — what we might otherwise expect to be created or adorned by black people — that comes focused into view in such a way that suggests that it has arrived from the future. This element alone is what people are most likely to see, grasp in passing, and consume as art. It’s relatively easy to replicate if one is interested purely in the profit to be yielded from its commodification. These are the nods we see celebrities make in set stages, album covers, films, and the like. To sift out the intention and impact of Afro-Futurism from its aesthetics, there are two simple questions that prove useful:
- What is the future being presented?
- How do we get there?
Depending on the particular conjurer of Afro-Futurism, the utility of their vision can vary widely from others. An “afro future” can be a site of grief as much as it can be a site of hope. In summoning the figures of black ancestry, we situate our present in the context of who brought us here, honoring their past struggles, sacrifices, and joys. The perspective that comes with this sort of time-travel can aid efforts to appreciate what is in front of us today, and it can embolden us to pursue a greater life. Whether one dimension outweighs the other or balances in union together of course determines whether or not we witnesses to afro-futurism grow complacent or more courageous in the face of the status quo.
It what is commonly viewed as the opposite of the past, the futures of afro-futurism can be spaces of mourning over the goals that feel locked away from the realm of possibility today. Inversely, they can be an insightful warning or a positive suggestion for what can be or must be done today. Stated a different way, Afro-Futurism is a portal into black desires that have yet to be manifested or actualized. Now some possible political consequences become more clear as we pass over some of the intentions behind the speculative nature of Afro-Futurism. I wish now to place some Afro-Futurist media under a magnifying glass so that we can answer the two instructive questions I mentioned above.
Following the very recent Black Panther Movie release, the excitement around this blockbuster spectacle has been at its peak. The representation of black people in so visible a medium has generated a crossover appeal for Disney’s Marvel Franchise. The cast, the soundtrack, the black history evoked by its very title all draw from the cultural wellspring of black culture that has been generated over the past several decades.
At the same time, what is the future Black Panther presents us? We have Wakanda, a fictionalized black african nation that’s become the most advanced in the world. This is based on the premise that one fictional precious metal, Vibranium, was never ruthlessly extracted by exploiting wakandans, allowing them to remain untouched by white supremacy. It follows from these circumstances that Wakanda was granted with an opportunity to actualize a vision of black self-determination that produced inconceivable wealth, technology, and a preserved patriarchal monarchist hierarchy. The story is a reinvention of co-opted and dismantled black power that is a fictional doppelganger for the fate of the real-life black panthers, as the main conflict is about imperialist powers meddling with Wakandan affairs and social movements. If we peel away the impossible embellishments of the fictional story, the premise is simply that Africa would not be destitute were it not for Colonialism, Slavery, Capitalism, and Imperialism.
So how do we actualize Wakanda? We cannot. War, Slavery, Genocide, Global Imperialism ravaged Africa and fractured the diaspora permanently, changing the trajectory of every African nation. The black diaspora is ensnared globally within imperialism and there is no Wakanda to protect us. Not all of us can be wealthy. We are largely outgunned within and outside our respective nations. We have only ourselves. For these reasons I posit that the Black Panther Movie is a commodification of Afro-Futurist grief, and it grieves for those who define black liberation as the freedom to amass wealth and wield a nation state in our modern age of Globalism. It presents us with a media commodity that we want to consume because we so rarely see ourselves empowered in reality and in media. As we watch, we get exciting entertainment and time to reflect on our historic victories and losses as the film not-so-subtly reinforces the current state of affairs.
Compare this to, say, Sun Ra’s humorous but combative songs about nuclear war, black invisibility, or his pursuit of the “green note” that would abolish money with a single sound! Another is Octavia Butler’s Earthseed from her Parable Novels, which conceived of a communal culture of resilience, cooperation, and agency that would “deliver us to the stars,” away from a planet made uninhabitable by capitalism. She identified real obstacles that are suffocating we who live in the present, and she evokes a culture of resistance with a common target in mind. Octavia Butler, who despised super-heroes, details her afro futures vividly and directs readers attention to explicit systems of oppression that must be dismantled. While her stories often portray dystopias or post-apocalyptic futures, we have very clear answers regarding to how we might end up in such an oppressive predicament: unchecked climate change and environmental destruction, a defeated anti-racist movement, endless imperialist war, the privatization of water along with public institutions, unchallenged hierarchical power and authority, and patriarchal male chauvinism and violence that feminists have not eradicated. She answers our question in the negative: we will end up in terrible futures if we do not act now against everything that will lead to our extinction!
Turning now to the realm of music, I would like to call attention to how often the political potency and portrayals of agency in Afro Futures seem to show a correlation wherein black women and queer black folks tend to have more radical and optimistic visions, contrast with cis-straight black men risking fatalism, and sometimes misogyny in their iterations of Afro-futurism and their lived praxis. A perfect example of these poles would be Flying Lotus, who is a critically acclaimed music producer known for innovating afro-futurist soundscapes contrast with Wizard Apprentice, underground black feminist afro-futurist musician known also for her organizing projects and work as a healer who helps black folks process trauma. Despite being a descendant of the late Afro-Futurist Alice Coltrane, Flying Lotus over the years has consistently become more fatalistic, hedonistic, and indifferent to politics as he pursues a career as an avante-garde musician and filmmaker. He’s found himself time-after-time mired by his own chauvinist comments, apologies for a rapist associated with his own music label, and increasingly vulgar masturbatory art as evidenced by his full-length feature film, Kuso. All beg the question of whether he may even find himself exposed by today’s #Metoo movement.
Another example of the opposite ends of the afro-futurist political spectrum would be the dynamic duo Rasheedah Phillips and Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) of the Philadelphia-based Afro-Futurist Affair contrast with Ishmael Butler and Tendai “Baba” Maraire of Shabazz Palaces. The experimental music the Afro-futurist Affair duo creates is explicitly about confronting — through unapologetic revolt — racial injustice, ancestral trauma, police violence and the prison industrial complex, patriarchy and sexual assault. While their essays, music, poetry, and fiction all embody the spirit of their determination to get free, their work in the community harmoniously compliments their creativity. Rasheedah Phillips works as a housing defense lawyer combating homelessness and gentrification, while she and Camae Ayewa run the House of Future Sciences for training political organizers to literally build futures and heal from trauma. Shabazz Palaces, albeit sonically inventive and clever, make lyrical critiques that lean very heavily towards their careers and the stagnation of the rap industry today. They borrow from and transform aesthetics of Sun Ra and they collaborate with Flying Lotus, Funkadelic, and George Clinton, creating songs that inspire black pride, occasionally scrutinizing systems of oppression in passing. Their impact on their respective genres have been powerful, but they leave something to be desired for how the rest of us can get free or at least be “successful” under capitalism, given that their praxis is limited to their music.
Returning just briefly to the Black Panther film, Kendrick Lamar scored its soundtrack and is facing a copyright violation lawsuit for using Lina Iris Viktor’s work in one of his music videos. Here we have a multiple grammy winning artist, lifting a black woman’s work without her consent and without compensating her. This reflects a parallel between Wakandan’s tightly protected wealth, and a real-world media industry that leaves women out in the pursuit of men’s profit.
As for Afro-Futurism as political praxis, adrienne maree brown’s emergent strategy is incredibly exemplary! In it she distills an actionable praxis from Octavia Butler’s novels and weaves them with her wealth of experience facilitating political work and organizational affinity within the left as well as the collective wisdom she’s accumulated from a plethora of organizers, healers, writers, and collectives. Her mantra “all organizing is science fiction” brings the future-building part of Afro-Futurism squarely into view. She provides an optimistic and empowering manual for us who are ready to “bury capitalism” while also “moving towards pleasure.”
I have a special fondness for N.K. Jemison’s multiple award winning Broken Earth Trilogy, which I believe is one of the greatest stories told to date that uses racial, environmental, and socio-economic allegory to masterful effect reminiscent of Octavia Butler’s own writing.
Black people are not a monolith. We all have different ideas about what a livable life looks like for us. Spaces to grieve collectively, stories that help us escape the reality of white supremacy for a while, strategies that help us achieve our liberation are all avenues that can help lead us towards life. All of these practices prepare us for our own black futurity when deployed in authentic contexts that allow us to keep our present in perspective. Afro-Futurism contains infinite possibilities, all of which help black folks live in a deeply flawed world. Still, it is important that we consider which future we are on a trajectory towards actualizing as the afro futures wash over us and enter our lives.
On that note, I leave you with “Herald” from Metropolarity’s Style of Attack Report:
1) OUR SCI-FI IS OUR REALITY!
Not all of us here are born with a silver spoon, tie-dyed space ship. We want the gristle, the grime, the earth, and steel to bend beneath our feet as we navigate towards the moon and the stars. Because we’re not divorced from the reality of our nightmares, we give voice to the passions of our dreams.2) OUR GENERATION IS ETERNAL!
These are androids dreaming of electric sheep, going 20,000 leagues below the surface, scraping up lost scrolls and parables of forgotten sowers. We commune with the griots, the orishas, the wizards and the soothsayers. We are always imp, always sage, always forever.3) OUR PERCEPTIONS ARE NOT OUR OWN!
What looks like a spoon isn’t (is) a spoon. We can burst like 1,000 rainbows in dreary forest, or pour into your subway cars in psychedelic sprawl, turn bullets into fireflies and asphalt into cloud.4) OUR SCI-FI IS OUR NEW MYTH!
Those ancient scrolls and scriptures are tattered and torn, rewritten by ogres to fit their own needs throughout time, forward and back again. We graft tales of exploding confetti in alleyways, of dust strewn castles in tenement hallways and of new, unfolding rituals in parking lot bonfires. We believe in their power, their power it guides us.5) OUR CRITIQUE IS THE TRIP FANTASTIC!
Like a glass moth, in their air on wings of gossamer, the questions rise: what of our future, what of our skin? We believe in unplugging from the machine, in taking the microchips, and tracking devices lodged in our lobes and, before smashing them, acknowledging them, making them known. We are the reporters in a rainbowtopia.6) OUR VOICE IS THE SONG FOR THE VOICELESS!
No more will we slink into the back of the bazaar, huddled over embers in the cold spaces of your library, forgotten and lost playing backup to captain kirk. We slipped the bad pills behind our gums and ignored the placebos, to spit them out later as diamonds, to clear our tongues, to sing.7) OUR DREAM SPACE IS OUR COMMUNION!
A faerie commune in deep space street corner kid as astronaut man in bodega as a disembodied spirit. We present this as offering of space for new visions and imaginings of identity among the disenfranchised, entwined in the arena of new beginnings.8) OUR SCI-FI IS OUR LIBERATION!
To simultaneously go beyond and embody gender, body, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity, with the city backlit on a cosmic green screen, where the shackles of every “ism” falls as fresh as morning dew subtly on a still wet page. We want freedom to determine our destiny, in our time, in our space, in our dreams, in our metro polarity.
