My Reaction to Steven Barnes' Lion's Blood

While reading the first 30 chapters of Lion’s Blood I was filled with all types of different emotions. The first feeling I had was confusion when the protagonists Aidan, describes his experience of middle passage. It was hard to imagine that this story was being told about a little white boy and his people. My mind just could not comprehend that this was not happening to people of color. All I could picture in my mind when I read was the image of black men, women and children and this left me very disturbed. Why could I not imagine this story from a white perspective? As I continued to read about Kai and his great noble family, I tried to imagine black people holding superior positions and conquering new land. This was not so hard to imagine in my mind though it was at times challenging. For me the most eye opening part of the novel is when Kai and Aidan were being taught about the great pharaohs of Egypt by Babatunde. Babatunde pulls out a scroll with a drawing of and a Pharaoh who looks like a white man! I am not sure if it is Kai or Aidan who asks this question but the novel states “could the Great Pharaoh actually be closer in blood to Aidan than Kai”? I was just as shocked as Kai and Aidan when I read this part of the novel. It was then that I began to question how much of our history do we really know. I think about this not just as an African American but as a human being. How much of human history has been kept from all of the people of the world and or forgotten in order to keep us from knowing our true reality? 

Didn't Cha Include Badu in Your Afrofuturism Playlist?

Erykah Badu’s “Didn’t Cha Know” was the second single off her sophomore album Mama’s Gun. The song speaks to the lost soul. Badu sings of being lost, not knowing which way to turn in life. In the music video Badu appears to have crash landed and is roaming around lost in the desert. The videos imagery helps to illustrate the lyrics, as she tries to figure out “which way to go”.  The video ends with her ultimately being led by a lizard to a watering hole below the earth’s surface. The image of her getting to the water coincides with her lyrics as she sings that “there will be a brighter day”. Badu's lyrics tells the listener that only when one can free their mind (awaken), they can find their way to a better future not only for themselves but for the world. She sings that it is “time to save the world” and with love come life and with life comes freedom for all. With this song, Badu exemplifies the music of Afrofuturism as she attempts to uplift the souls of the listener. She uses her lyrics to envision a better future, and one cannot help but include this song on their Afrofuturism playlist.

After Reading Samuel R Delany's Babel-17. . .

As I sat reading Samuel R. Delany’s Babel-17, I wondered what was the significance for my reading this book other than it being assigned by my professor. I struggled through the pages trying to imagine myself in the world that Delany had created. When I finished the last page, still as confused as when I first started reading I decided to see if I could find anything that would help me understand the reading. I came across an interview that Delany had with Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah for the Paris Review in which Delany made a statement that put everything in perspective for me. Samuel R Delaney stated

“science fiction isn't just thinking about the world out there. It’s also thinking about how that world might be—a particularly important exercise for those who are oppressed, because if they’re going to change the world we live in, they—and all of us—have to be able to think about a world that works differently” (2011).

At that moment I started to understand Babel-17 differently. In Babel -17 Delany imagines a future in which communication is a force that brings people together. It doesn't matter what planet they came from, what kind of cosmetic alterations they had, in Delany’s world people were drawn together through communication whether it be spoken language or body language. What Delany and other artists in the world of Afrofuturism provided us with the imagination needed to envision change in our society so that we can work toward the change we wish to see. 

                                                                       Nigerian artist Komi Olaf’s ’3014′

My Take on the Theme of Change

After reading Professor Due’s “The Only Lasting Truth, The Theme of Change in the Works of Octavia E. Butler”, I was forced to think about change, not only as it pertains to the works that I have studied so far in my Afrofuturism course, but also as it pertains to my life. According to the Kybalion based on the hermetic philosophy, "nothing remains permanent but change". I believe that this is the message that is strongly conveyed in Butler’s Parable of the Sower. In the novel, protagonists Lauren shows the reader that the world is going to change even if you want it to or not, even if you are ready or not. I also think that Lauren shows the reader that changing ones perception of  reality is necessary for growth. Lauren has taught me that we must change the way they think about ourselves in relation to the world in order to grow as a human beings. Sometimes change means breaking away from conventional thought, and exploring one’s own mind, the same way that Lauren does in the novel. One thing I am learning is that change is not easy, but one has to change in order to play their part in changing society. Also, I believe that human society must change in order to keep up with the changing world and the changing universe. When thinking about my journey with change, I must share the words of a wise man by the name of  C. Freeman El in stating that "Man cannot change unless his consciousness changes, and his consciousness cannot change until his history changes". Please think about these words as you embark on your journey with change. 

My Introduction to Afrofuturism

Before I attended UCLA, I can recall sitting with my younger brother as he searched YouTube for music for us to listen to. On one of these occasion, my brother began to play a song and a woman sang out to me saying that I should sign up with outer spaceways incorporated if I found earth boring. Oh my, I thought. I did find earth boring, and I was tired of the same thing. I had dropped out of community college and felt like my life was stagnant and I didn't know which direction to guide my life, and suddenly this song was pointing me into the direction of outer space. This song was Sun-Ra’s “Outer Spaceways Incorporated and it had sparked something inside of me. I needed to find a way out of my dull life and this had to be the answer! I began to explore more of Sun Ra’s music, being pulled in by its funky intergalactic chords and space age lyrics. Little did I know that this was my introduction to Afro futurism. The music of Sun Ra spoke to me in a way that said, there is more to life than what meets the eye and it is time to step out of my little box and start living life the way it is truly meant to be lived. It was in this moment that I decided that it was time to give my higher education a second round and I enrolled myself back into community college. Here I am three years later, a senior at UCLA and taking a course on the introduction to Afro futurism. As I continue my journey through Afro Futurism, I am beginning to realize that it is not only Sun Ra that inspired me, but the spirit of Afro Futurism. In class the Professor Due asked us what does Afro Futurism mean to us and I wasn't sure how to answer that question. Now that I reflect on my experience with the music of Sun Ra I can answer that question by saying for me, Afro Futurism means to create an identity for oneself that breaks away from the status quo, creating a life for oneself that is boundless within the mind’s eye. Afro Futurism means to create a reality in which I can connect with the black, white, brown, green and blue people of the universe. The spirit Afro Futurism reminds me that no matter how often I feel like my life was created to keep me oppressed, this is far from truth and it is time to create my own truth within this world.

The Intro

I decided to call this post the intro because I am introducing myself to the world of blogging. Though this is starting off as a course assignment, I want to introduce myself to a world of possibilities. No one should remain inside of a box, especially a mental box. One should use tools such as blogging not only to share ideas, but to explore with others. Its time to explore my mind and this is my introduction.