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A COVID Stricken World and Afrofuturism!!!
By John Burl Smith author “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop!”
Denver’s RedLine Art Gallery’s efforts to launch “Afrofuturism + Beyond 2022” was shut down in 2021 by COVID-19 and has been sidetracked again by this deadly monster. Originally set to debut in 2021, and now COVID, rising from the grave, like “the grim reaper,” has defied many who thought with warmer weather, America had seen the last of COVID-19. The one lesson “Republicans COVID-deniers and others who refuse to get shots, are still spreading COVID to even those who got shots. Denver residents are currently experiencing just such a spread, and out of an abundance of caution, and RedLine’s desire not to become a “super spreader,” has delayed the opening of its major exhibition “Floyd Tunson’s ASCENT” from 6-10/7-31-2022 to 7-11/16-2022.
The pause provides another opportunity to acquaint art lovers with RedLine’s quest to make “Afrofuturism” mainstream by presenting “Floyd Tunson’s ASCENT!!” Tunson has emerged as one of the driving forces supporting “Afrofuturism.” Along with Arish “King” Khan, international “Punk Rock” artist, who created “Black Power Tarot” we were in Colorado Spring (2019), for an appearance at the Gallery of Contemporary Art (GOCA) when Daisy McGowan, curator, introduced us to Floyd Tunson. “King” Khan and I were talking with Floyd, what has become “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop” and trying to visualize the role of “Afrofuturism,” as a vehicle. Our hope is to commemorate our ancestors’ journey into slavery, while celebrating our survival in 2030, as the Quadricentennial year of our arrival in North America. Envisioning enslaved Africans’ their arrival through this new and different lens, brought 2030 and “Afrofuturism” together as a concept, talking with Floyd.
For those less familiar with “Afrofuturism,” Floyd, Khan and I talked about making it more than just another “catchy phrase or gimmick!” However, back in 2016, I realized 2019 was just 3 years away. Moreover, I thought, “more noted individuals—artists, historians, civil rights activists or politicians—would be up front driving such a movement. With a regretful resignation, I watched 2019 zoomed by with only a whisper. Floyd took the artistic approach, looking for venues receptive to his artistic concept, hence RedLine entered his portrait with “Afrofuturism + Beyond 2022.”
“King” Khan blew my socks off, with his creation of Black Power Tarot, just as Prichard Smith was warping up production of the “Invaders” documentary. Their efforts inspired me to tell my family and other descendants of American slavery’s story, which began before creation of the “Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” Writing “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop,” I recapitulate their journey all the way to Hip hop’s rise, which sidelined R&B on the way to becoming an international genre. I saw creating “The 400th Performance Period” as a multi-purpose platform that, among other things, will allow R&B to reposition, not remake itself. Utilizing Afrofuturism to exemplify and verify the multiplicity of genres Black Arts encompasses, Arish and I wanted to reflect its centrality in slavery’s descendants’ development.
Our hope is that young artists will pick up the challenge of Afrofuturism and “The 400th Performance Period” to address their image and lack of access to America’s economic system. Hip hoppers must tell their story or chance getting written out of history all together. Young people cannot allow the older generation to hold on to power they will use against them! They must see in Tunson’s RedLine exhibition, the viability of “Afrofuturism” as a vehicle and platform. Floyd brought “King” Khan and me on board RedLine’s opening week of “Floyd Tunson’s ASCENT!” For me “Afrofuturism” is a theme that makes Tunson’s exhibition the leading exponent of Afrofuturism.
Questions like, “What difference will a word or concept like “Afrofuturism” make, after 400 years of discrimination, political oppression, economic deprivation and isolation?” I answer, “Afrofuturism” and the “The 400th Performance Period” is a projected timeline that began in 2020 and culminate with activities throughout 2030. Then comes, “Why such a long time, Black people are so impatient; why wait 8-years to celebrate something we can do next year?” I respond, “All the major movements African Americans have mounted in the past—the March on Washington (1963), “the Poor People’s Campaign (1968), and the Million Man March (1995)—were organized as one day affairs. We wanted the concept and activities to be innovative, not dependent on one group to keep activities going. Slavery’s descendants need to learn how to sustain a process, without the “number one black leader” dictating to the masses. You do not need to wait on the OK nor join anything. If you have an idea, start developing it, you will have a head start. What we envision with “The 400th Performance Period” and “Afrofuturism” is a time frame and a goal beyond the present. During those 8 years (2030), activities will be planned. Artists and entertainers can modify their projects, while touring small communities, not only large ones.
Even more importantly, there are millions of descendants of slavery that were hijacked and carried to islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These slavery descendants are artists, writers, performers and others who revere their slavery roots and will want to exhibit their cultures. With everything coming together for “Floyd Tunson’s ASCENT,” the opening week, it will bring African American Art to the fore, while elevating its contributions to a similar level of recognition white Art is accorded. Based on RedLine’s groundbreaking exhibition, which recast what was status quo before COVID-19. The world will see what that reshaped “Art world” looks like. Consequently, descendants of American slavery are truly fortunate to have such a prominent artist, as Floyd Tunson, on the frontline with his RedLine exhibition “Floyd Tunson’s ASCENT,” makes it the leading edge for Afrofuturism. For the first time in our history, slavery’s descendants will have artists, performers, entrepreneurs and activists, leading efforts to project possible futures with create example of what those futures can be! These are exciting times!!!
The Sound of Silence and The 1/6 Insurrection!!!
By John Burl Smith author “The 400th: From Slavery to Hip Hop
Originally recorded with Art Garfunkel (1966), Paul Simon released a solo version of “The Sound of Silence” in 1974. His version reached # 84 in Canada and # 97 on the US Cash Box chart. It was also a minor Adult Contemporary hit (US # 50, Canada # 42). Among its accolades, BMI named “The Sound of Silence” the 18th most-performed song of the 20th century (1999). Rolling Stone ranked it #156 among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004). It is considered by many, “the quintessential folk rock song,” so when the Library of Congress added “The Sounds of Silence” album to the National Recording Registry for long-term preservation in 2013, cheers went up. An acappella cover by Pentatonix released in 2019 amassed more than 50 million views in a year and the YouTube video has received almost 114 million views (2021).
So, I do not have to remind the world of Paul Simon’s insightful creativity and pointed observations, I wanted to reawaken the impact Simon’s genius had on social change and social justice activists in the 1970s, as we fought for passage of the 26th Amendment. His piercing reflection help propelled those of us fighting to change the desperate future we saw, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968). If we were going to change things, we could not talk a good fight, we had to get out in the streets and act; and act loudly!
Consequently, I say to young voters/students this is your time and your turn to step up and speak up for everybody. Your advantage is you do not have to take to the streets to make change happen! With our campaign beginning in 1970, progressives made every 18-year-old American an adult in 1972. By getting the 26th Amendment enacted into law, we gave 18-year-olds the same powers, as all other adult citizens. Moreover, your vote makes you as powerful as the President of the United States, when you use it. Moreover, the 2020 census established that 18-year-old voters will be the largest voting demographic in the November 8th midterm election. Even more importantly, 11th and 12th graders future will be on the ballot on November 8th. you cannot wake until you are 35, America need you now! Eighteen year-olds are being asked, do you want a future? Your votes are yes. Not voting says you are definite not interested in a future and a better life, as well as a cleaner planet.
Today, the last stanza Paul penned in 1966 rings truer today than it did back then: “And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made, and the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming, and the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls and whispered in the sounds of silence.” The insurrection on 1/6/2021 has cover America, in a rebirth of the sound of silence Paul prophetically wailed 5 decades ago. Today Republicans move their mouths but only nonsense comes out. They fall on ears of young voters/students, striking them dumb with silence. They are dumbfounded by what comes out, as though, they are speaking a language young voters/students were never taught.
Republican see young voters/students blank expressions and believe they are not tuned in or do not care about politics. However, they are without words to explain why their parents and grandparents refuse to believe their own eyes, as they watched the insurrection together. Young voters/students, as people around the world, saw the 1/6 attack on the US Capitol building with their own eyes and are not confused about what they saw. Young voters/students are simply reflecting on their parents words when they challenged them to “take responsibility for your actions,” when they breached some rule. Adult cited how they fear for their children’s disregard for the law and rules of society, praying they will not eventually land in jail. Their children watch adults rant and rave, while becoming exasperated at their silence, just before issuing punishment to teach them “there are consequents for misbehaving!!!” However, the 1/6 insurrection proved “adults do not lead by example!”
Watching the 1/6 insurrection, young voters/student saw their parents and grandparents, acting like children because they could not get their way! Fast forward to impeachment—twice—and then to see a former President of the United States braggadociously whine incessantly like a disgruntled, petulant, boring old man, trying to destroy the nation that rejected him, young voters/students view the whole thing as pathetic. However, their silence is directed at their parents and grandparents, who fund him like lapdogs. The one thing young voters/student must understand is you are America’s only real change to save American democracy, because it seems the majority of older Americans are on the side of the insurrectionists, who have tried once to destroy democracy!!!
I close with a few words by Paul Baxley Executive Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (8/15/2019) from his opine “What the 400th Anniversary of Slavery in America Requires of US.” “This is part 1 of a three-part series reflecting on the 400th anniversary of black enslavement in America. As I approach this significant moment on Tuesday, I am mindful of the unavoidable role that white Christianity played over centuries in creating a world where slavery and other kinds of racial injustices were possible. The speech and the silence—the sins of commission and the sins of omission—have played an undeniable role in placing and keeping black people in bo***ge and creating an American Christian landscape where our identity is shaped more by race than by baptism and faith in Jesus Christ.”
