#UCLAAfAm

[thelemonade-tree]

This is Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism is the escape I never knew I needed. This course has brought something unique and important to academia. It is an excellent way to highlight Blackness that in my education career has been lacking. Traditional education is a sprinkle of Blackness here and there in a white hegemonic setting. Black education looks like slavery, civil rights, Martin Luther King versus Malcolm X, and maybe a dash of police brutality. The story that is told about Blackness and Black history is riddled with struggle and although that is a major foundation resulting from white supremacy, that is not our whole story. I thoroughly enjoy that Afrofuturism addresses the plight of Black people with a critique and presents a vision for our future. An afrofuturist history education looks like Black Panther, Lion’s Blood, Cosmic Slop, and Many Moons. Yes, slavery is a hundreds of years story for Black Americans, but it is Afrofuturism. Enslaved Africans used music, song, and dance to time their work, to uplift their spirits, and communicate in code to coordinate secret meetings and escape in what looked like a good time to their masters and praises to Jesus. Enslaved Africans envisioned themselves in a space and time beyond what they saw before their eyes. These works embody this completely by considering history but putting a twist on it. From imagining Africa having never been colonized to white people being enslaved by Muslim Africans.

Afrofuturism also brings Black women into the light. The groundwork that Black women put into pursuing liberation is often overlooked. As my friend Jada puts it, Shuri ran so that T’Challa could walk! And this is often the story not told. Black women were central to Wakanda in all aspects, in leading, protecting, cultivating, and innovating. Throughout the film, you will find Black women putting in work. During slavery, Black women would cornrow maps onto their heads, beautifully constructing routes to freedom. Woven in their braids would be seeds or rice so they could feed themselves along the way. In Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, she displays resistance to brainwashing, memory erasing, sexual, symbolic, and physical violence. Her work embodies [Black] women’s empowerment and Black women’s liberation which comes with the liberation of all. Black women are bad mamma jammas, but we are also soft in pynk.

At the end of each day, as Kendrick says, we gon be aight! Our resilience is demonstrated time and time again. Afrofuturism is our past, present, and future in one and it is the education that I absolutely needed. It is what you need, have a seat...

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Aysia-Marie Perkins 

Blog 6 

[thelemonade-tree]

To Take Root Amongst the Stars: Earthseed

If I could follow Mary J. Blige featuring Ludacris and runaway love, I would be running away from the symbolic violence against Black women and police brutality / sanctioned violence against Black people. I would be seeking shelter from these two things as I see the havoc and harm they produce against Black people. I a thorough distaste for our education system and I a firm believer that it commits violent acts against Black people. From Black girls having their hair cut by teachers because “it was a distraction” to Black children being discouraged in their aspirations by college counselors to the lack of relevant curriculum to equip students for life. Education is so important, knowledge is something that no one can take from you. Its power is clear because why else would masters go to great lengths of preventing enslaved Africans from learning to read. I am also seeking shelter from police brutality. I recall being in high school when Trayvon Martin was killed and not knowing how to process the information. It felt as if this is not something that is supposed to happen today because we are supposed to have come so far and this was not the 60s. And with the height of social media, the images of control and white fragility being used against Black people anger and weigh heavy on my heart. From sanctioned violence by police to white women calling cops on children selling water or Black men having a barbeque. Why are people so threatened by us trying to live our best lives?

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“The destiny of Earthseed is to take root amongst the stars”

“All successful life is adaptable, opportunistic, tenacious, interconnected, and fecund. Understand this. Use it. Shape God.”

“Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation. Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces” - Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower.

I have chosen these quotes because they emphasize the aspect of community and resilience. To be communal is to understand that you cannot serve yourself with the result of a thriving world. Because we are interdependent, we use our gifts, talents, knowledge, experiences, etc. to help one another. Ultimately, this is how we can achieve success and take root amongst the stars. I think tenacity and being opportunistic and interconnected is what Black people have shown throughout history. It is what immigrants show today. Community and solidarity are what allows us to be fecund. Implementing this as a value within our Earthseed, we can create a place that is beautiful and contrary to the world we live in today. We can take place amongst the stars where light is shed and what people reach for.

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Where will we reside? I imagine a somewhat rural space away from the city until we have the means and to go and “gentrify” / renaissance our communities black up. Places like Sylmar or Moreno Valley have lots of land.

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I would like to think of my community as inclusive, but I understand the dangers of people who are “all-lies” in their allyship and who are sunken. Black, white, brown, yellow, red, blue alike. For those who fall under those categories, sorry not sorry but you are not in the running in joining America's next top parable.

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The leadership I would like for my community would resemble a church. I believe the notion of departments and boards allows people to have a niche and place to be put to work as well as train up others. No department can stand on its own, they are all imperative to the successful function of the community as a whole. We will survive by maintaining community. We survive by planting our seed (values, ideas, etc.) in those that come after us. We survive by protecting one another from degradation or dehumanization. When I look at systems we operate in today and the injustices that constantly arise, I have an understanding that for anyone outside of the white-cis-hetero-rich male, it is functioning exactly as planned. Values that are not dehumanizing or meant to only support others are crucial. Humans were created to be interdependent, and that is something essential to survival.

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Sustainability is very important because, without an Earth that is in good condition and habitable, there is no purpose to Earthseed. I think Black people are instrumental in innovating opportunities and things creatively to overcome. So, as a means of creating a thriving community and improving life in our community, a sustainable way of accessing water as well as food is important. This is a nod to the water crisis still present in Flint, Michigan as well as the health concerns due to a shady FDA and diet. I would want a machine that can cleanse any digestible liquid or press it out of something and make drinkable water. Also, something that is reusable and multifunctioning, so that when you are done with it it can be replanted or used to create something else.

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In order to build a better future, the current indoctrination education system will be fully disrupted. There will not be a white hegemonic, eurocentric, faux meritocracy value. Education is mutual and collaborative and should be inclusive and relevant to the needs of people. In dismantling the police force which is founded on the dehumanization of enslaved Africans, I think there can be space for creating something more effective and true to its goals of protecting and serving (just look at the Dora Milaje). By breaking down the values that the U.S. of America holds that are rooted in racism, greedy capitalism, sexism, etc. we can walk to a better future.

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Aysia-Marie Perkins 

Blog 2: EARTHSEED 

[thelemonade-tree]

Sorry NOT Sorry

What. The. Heck. What did I just watch? Those were the first things that came out of my mouth after viewing Sorry To Bother You for the first time. I was excited to see Tessa Thompson on screen as well as the guy I recognized from Get Out, Lakeith. Little did I know what story these two would illustrate on screen. Drugs, horses, bourgeois art, what wasn’t happening in the film. There were themes of language, the horrendous consequences and realities of capitalism, extortion, morals, human experimentation, and more.

“ I realized I needed Cassius' voice to sound like the whitest guy in the world, the whitest person that people might recognize. And I realized that David's voice is a little whiter than yours." He was like, "Really? Oh yeah, his voice is whiter than mine," and started feeling proud about that.” - Riley Boots

Sorry To Bother touched on a major aspect of Blackness, code-switching / “the white voice”. Your name or speaking the king’s proper english is associated with whiteness. This association or assumed proximity to whiteness allows Black people to navigate predominately white spaces, from academia to corporate America with more ease than usual. While it is illegal to discriminate against people by race, it has been shown that people with non-european-American names are not afforded the same level playing field.

So, white America has no appreciation for the uniqueness of Black names and agency. There is also no appreciation for African American Vernacular English, consequently, we have code-switching. Black people are accustomed to switching up their behavior and language depending on the setting as a means of fitting in or protection from microaggressions in white spaces. However, choosing to “speak properly” can further lead to microaggressions with statements such as “you speak so well” or “wow, you are so articulate”. As if Black people do not have the capacity or ability to be sophisticated or articulate.

It is this white voice that Cassius Green utilizes to achieve success in his job as a telemarketer. When he speaks in his usual manner, he tends to always begin his calls with “Sorry to bother you”, but when he begins to use his white voice he carries himself differently during these calls, more confidently. The white voice gives him power that he can feel and it allows him to put on a performance, a performance where he is not sorry to bother the customer but is the one who's actually booked and busy and is doing a quick favor for the customer.

This reinforces the notion of code-switching and the white voice. Being Black and speaking however you want, whether it is “proper” (I put this in quotes because there is no right or wrong way to speak, white hegemony socializes us to believe that the king’s english is how educated and smart [white] people speak) or with slang, our Blackness makes us bothersome. We are socialized to not take up space and when we do, we apologize for it. Have you ever found yourself trying to squeeze by someone and whilst saying excuse me also throw in a sorry? Or apologized for crying? Apologized for anything that actually does not require an apology? I find myself doing this constantly and am undergoing a process to deconstruct this socialization. I do not have to shrink myself to make it easier for others to navigate experiences and spaces. And whether I choose to speak with slang, AAVE, or the king’s english, code switch, etc. I will always be one hundred percent Black. Sorry, not sorry!

Aysia-Marie Perkins

Afrofuturism blog 3 

[thelemonade-tree]

Not Ya Daddy’s Son

Children of Men is a film about the end of the world, very similar to what we are presumably facing today. The premise of the film is that the end of the world has come because women are no longer able to conceive. It is a plague of infertility. You also see immigrants struggling to find sanctuary and asylum in Britain. Both fertility and immigration are major topics of discussion in our US government today.

The platform of Trump and his administration is “making america great again” and emphasizing how america is not a country if it does not maintain its borders (a very white social construct). The rhetoric surrounding immigrants has been violent as they are called rapists and drug dealers, etc. Immigrants are heavily criminalized and we have seen them put in cages and thrown around. However, this administration is not the first to conduct raids or deport immigrants and reinforce the notion that they are illegals or aliens. Geroge W. Bush played a role in dehumanizing and deporting immigrants and Obama’s administration deported even more than his predecessor. The topic of immigrants and their humanity is definitely seen in this film and although it was published in 2006, a lot of the imagery can be seen in our current climate in 2019.

The woman’s body has also been a topic for the past few years as well, mainly at the table talks of old, white, men. What else is new? 10 states on the southern side of the US have passed anti-abortion, anti-choice laws. While the film concerns fertility and the inability to birth children, the context as to today’s abortion laws partially reflects this. It is believed that a few deceased from 2019, the US population will be majority Latinx. People of color already are the majority although they are considered to be minorities. White men have become fearful that they are on the brink of extinction! Families of color tend to have more children than white families and this coupled with the fear of “illegal aliens” (who we have become conditioned to think equals Mexicans and other Latinx groups we assume are Mexican) are said to be influencing the abortion ban laws. The 10 states that have passed it are majority white. Living in a time where people want to “make america great again” means there are more extreme efforts to preserve whiteness. These laws also include the criminalization of miscarriages. Ultimately, poor people and people of color, like Black women will be disproportionately affected by these laws.

In the film, humanity is saved by…. A BLACK WOMAN. She is the only person known to be with child and she beautifully gives birth to a baby girl. What a testament to the work that Black women do for the liberation of all walks of life. In class, we have talked about how Black women are the future, and I have found no lies detected.

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Aysia-Marie Perkins 

Afrofuturism blog 4

[thelemonade-tree]

District 9 & All The Stars

“Tell me what you gon' do to me

Confrontation ain't nothin' new to me

You can bring a bullet, bring a sword

Bring a morgue, but you can't bring the truth to me

Fuck you and all your expectations

I don't even want your congratulations

I recognize your false confidence and calculated promises all in your conversation

I hate people that feel entitled

Look at me crazy 'cause I ain't invite you

Oh, you important?

You the moral to the story, you endorsing?

Motherfucker, I don't even like you

Corrupt a man's heart with a gift

That's how you find out who you dealin' with

A small percentage, who I'm building with

I want the credit if I'm losing or I'm winning

On my momma that's the realest shit”

District 9 is the place where alien refugees have sought asylum in South Africa under the thumb of white South Africans. A 90 percent rotten tomato earned thriller, many critics and moviegoers appeared to thoroughly enjoy the film. I, on the other hand, give it a thumbs down, splat, 0 out of 10 would recommend. While many people commented on the great imagination, effects, and originality of the film, I think they have completely missed it. It is clear that there is a social commentary of some degree. We can see anti-immigrant, anti-asylum sentiments, racism, and elitism as apparent themes. However, in executing these themes and the plot, I think the film strictly reinforces problematic tropes that work in opposition. While the film takes place in South Africa, there are no South African characters ( as in Black, any white South Africans are a result of colonizers and will be referred to as such) with development. They merely serve as prop characters to add or propel the main character, lanky and foolish Wikus. Black South Africans are portrayed as primitive and queer. As mentioned in discussion class, why is that they are the only ones who are intentionally seeking out to have sex with the giant aliens?  What does this say about them? If South African people are not being portrayed as scary thugs, they are serving as guardians and workers of Wikus. He is described as a kindred spirit, but he is anything but. Rather, he acts through interest convergence theory wherever he goes. He lacks a moral compass and partakes in the violent raids of district 9. He criminalizes them in his speech and actions and threatens to take away one of the alien’s child when he unsuccessfully tries to force his hand at their removal. Wikus’ attitude does not change until he begins to suffer the consequences of his colonizing ways. As he begins to turn into one of the aliens after touching things he has no business with, the company he works for blacklists him and decides to use him as one of their experiments, just as they were doing with the other aliens. Wikus has a sudden change of heart that led many viewers to feel sorry for him. WELL, I DO NOT. 

You reap what you sow and how foolish can you be to be surprised when the shady company who uses you as a pawn to do their dirty work would turn on you when the opportunity presented itself? Values and morals are very telling. Wikus was problematic from the jump and that is something that many critics seem to gloss over *insert tea*. Now Wikus wants to work with the alien and praise him, but only after he learns that the alien can make him human again. TRIFLING. This does not undo the dehumanization that has taken place and led to the death and violence against the aliens.

Wikus character very much so reminded me of the verse from All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar ft. Sza. Wikus is not the white savior he is painted out to be, “I recognize your false confidence and calculated promises...I hate people that feel entitled, oh, you important? You the moral to the story you endorsin?...Corrupt a man’s heart with a gift That’s how you find out who you dealin with”. This verse perfectly describes the privilege and entitlement that has spoiled Wikus. And throughout the story, we are able to see what the aliens are really dealing with. It calls out and brings into question whether his sacrificing of his life makes him the moral of the story...It does not! It was predictable and the bare minimum of his humanity. Wikus is an embodiment of all things problematic, so “fuck you and all your expectations, I don’t even want your congratulations”.

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Aysia-Marie Perkins 

blog 5