Creating The Movement

As we continue to celebrate Black Futures, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the immense contribution that Black artists have made to the social justice movement. From music and poetry to visual art and dance, Black art and creativity have played a vital role in shaping and expressing the Black experience, amplifying Black voices, and inspiring change.

The intersection of art and Black art is becoming more prominent and brought to more mainstream culture with work like Wakanda Forever, the award-winning sequel to Black Panther. But Shuri and T'challa aren't the only Black comic book characters that we can read and look up to. MECCAcon is making sure of that.

The Midwest Ethnic Convention for Comics and Arts (MECCAcon) is a large comic book, Afrofuturism, film, and art convention held yearly across the United States and abroad. MECCAcon highlights comic books, science fiction, steampunk, manga, authors, artists, publishers, international film, artisans, music, fine arts, and more. Its purpose is to instill knowledge primarily in the younger art culture. MECCAcon isn't the only organization that is inspiring youth to tap into their creativity.

The Black Space is a digital makerspace that offers Black and Brown youth (Afronauts) a breathing space to manifest their dreams. They create community through digital and arts-based WokeShops, African-centered events and rituals, and by producing creative storytelling projects. Blackspace has offered teens free programming rooted in Afrofuturism, including poetry, coding, puppetry, 3D printing, animation, beat making, rap, photography, DJing, and consent culture.

From the work of visual artists such as Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley to the music of Nina Simone and Public Enemy, Black artists have always used their creative expression to convey messages of resistance, liberation, and empowerment. In doing so, they have helped to galvanize communities, spark movements, and push for systemic change.

In Spring 2019, we collaborated with celebrated poet, educator, and activist A Scribe Called Quess? to work with PolicyLink teams and communities across the country to incorporate art, story circles, poetry workshops, and Theater of the Oppressed techniques as a platform to tell the stories of people impacted by racial and economic inequities in this country. The outcome was, the film, "Many Fires This Time, We the 100 Million."

As a poetic docudrama, “Many Fires This Time: We, the 100 Million” documents the journey of A Scribe Called Quess? as he connects with fellow activist poets and the communities they represent. From Oakland to Chicago to Kentucky to New Orleans, we glimpse the worlds of everyday people fighting for equity and justice in community safety; housing and gentrification; water and environment; job security and health; migration and globalization; education; and LGBTQIA rights.

As we celebrate Black Futures, let us also celebrate the importance of art and creativity to the movement. Let us honor the Black artists who have paved the way for us, and continue to support art and organizations like Black Speculative Arts Movement and Hip Hop Architecture that speak truth to power, and inspire us to build a more just and equitable society.