Afrofuturism and the Law: A Manifesto

• Pages: 1361-1383
• Date: 01 June 2024
• Published date: 01 June 2024
• Author: I. Bennett Capers
• Subject Matter: Derecho Civil

Afrofuturism and the Law: A Manifesto

I. BENNETT CAPERS* TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

I. IMAGINE OTHER SUNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

II. MAKE THOSE SUNS SHINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371

III. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE FIGHTING FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372

IV. LISTEN TO AFROFUTURIST GRIOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375

V. LISTEN TO OTHER GRIOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377

VI. QUESTION LAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379

VII. REJECT MANIFESTOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1382

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383

INTRODUCTION

Afrofuturism seems to be everywhere these days. It’s front and center in the

award-winning f‌iction of N. K. Jemisin

1

and Nnedi Okorafor.

2

It’s in the pop

music of Janelle Mona

´e and Outkast and Erykah Badu,

3

For examples of Mona

´e’s work, see, for example, sources cited infra note 134. For a discussion

and some examples of Afrofuturist themes in the work of Outkast and Badu, see Tony Bolden,

Afrofuturism in Black Music, CH: TIMELINE OF AFR. AM. MUSIC, https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/

stories/afrofuturism-in-black-music [https://perma.cc/Q65J-7GY7] (last visited May 27, 2024).

and in the jazz of

Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington and Sons of Kemet.

4

For a discussion and some examples of Afrofuturist themes in the work of these jazz artists, see

Miles Marshall Lewis, Jazz and Afrofuturism: From Sun Ra to Flying Lotus, CARNEGIE HALL, https://

www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Articles/2022/02/09/Jazz-and-Afrofuturism [https://perma.cc/EY8Q-

NVYG] (last visited May 27, 2024) and Thomas Hobbs, Sons of Kemet’s Afrofuturist Jazz Is the Sound of

Youthful, Modern London, CRACK (Oct. 25, 2018), https://crackmagazine.net/article/live-reviews/sons-of-

kemets-afrofuturist-jazz-is-the-sound-of-youthful-modern-london/ [https://perma.cc/N9DA-Y4BA].

It’s even in folk

music, through artists like Jake Blount. It’s in the art of Wangechi Mutu and

* Stanley D. and Nikki Waxberg Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Race, Law and

Justice, Fordham School; Columbia Law School, J.D. 1991; Princeton University, B.A. 1988. © 2024,

I. Bennett Capers.

1. See, e.g., sources cited infra note 185.

2. See infra note 183 and accompanying text.

3.

4.

1361

Nick Cave. It’s certainly in the blockbuster f‌ilms Black Panther

5

and Wakanda

Forever,

6

to say nothing of smaller independent f‌ilms like Neptune Frost

7

and,

for that matter, television series like Watchmen

8

and Lovecraft Country.

9

There’s

even a resurgence of interest in earlier Afrofuturists. In 2020, Octavia Butler’s

novel The Parable of the Sower debuted on the New York Times best-seller list

nearly three decades after it was f‌irst released;

10

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, PARABLE OF THE SOWER (reissued 2019) (1993); accord Maiysha Kai, It

Took Nearly 50 Years, but This Week, Octavia Butler Made the New York Times Best Sellers’ List,

ROOT (Sept. 4, 2020), https://www.theroot.com/it-took-nearly-50-years-but-this-week-octavia-butler-

1844956328 [https://perma.cc/WG3L-GMX8].

her novel Kindred was recently

adapted for television, and other adaptations are on the way.

11

Judy Berman, FX’s Kindred Is a Solid, Long Overdue Adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s

Masterpiece, TIME (Dec. 8, 2022, 12:00 PM), https://time.com/6238862/kindred-review-fx/ [https://

perma.cc/VVD3-WFZJ]; see Sydney Scott, Viola Davis Is Bringing Octavia Butler’s Novel ‘Wild Seed’

to the Small Screen, ESSENCE (Dec. 6, 2020), https://www.essence.com/entertainment/amazon-wild-

seed-viola-davis-julius-tennon/ [https://perma.cc/BEP8-M33F]; Julian Lucas, How Octavia E. Butler

Reimagines Sex and Survival, NEW YORKER (Mar. 8, 2021), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/

2021/03/15/how-octavia-e-butler-reimagines-sex-and-survival.

The New York

Times recently prof‌iled her in one issue,

12

See Lynell George, The Visions of Octavia Butler, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 17, 2022), https://www.

nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/17/arts/octavia-butler-vision-kindred.html.

while the New Yorker prof‌iled the

Afrofuturist Samuel Delany in another.

13

See Julian Lucas, How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City, NEW YORKER

(July 3, 2023), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/10/samuel-r-delany-prof‌ile.

Other indicators of Afrofuturism’s con-

tinuing inf‌luence? In 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened

an Afrofuturist period room as an ongoing exhibit.

14

Jennifer Vanasco, A Wondrous Afrofuturism Period Room Opens at the Met Museum, GOTHAMIST

(Nov. 6, 2021), https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/wondrous-afrofuturism-period-room-opens-met-

museum [https://perma.cc/A9J9-HZ9L]; Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room,

MET, https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/afrofuturist-period-room [https://perma.cc/77KE-WU2K]

(last visited May 13, 2024).

In 2022, Carnegie Hall pre-

sented a city-wide Afrofuturism festival.

15

Giovanni Russonello, An Afrofuturism Festival Brings an Energy Shift to Carnegie Hall, N.Y.

TIMES (Apr. 6, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/arts/music/afrofuturism-festival.html.

The Metropolitan Opera recently

added an Afrofuturist staging to Anthony Davis’s opera X: The Life and Times of

Malcolm X.

16

See Joshua Barone, Review: Anthony Davis’s Malcolm X Opera Finally Arrives at the Met, N.Y.

TIMES (Nov. 5, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/arts/music/review-x-life-and-times-of-

macolm-x-met-opera.html.

From March 2023 through August 2024 in the nation’s capital, the

National Museum of African American History and Culture boasted as its special

exhibit “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures.”

17

DaNeen L. Brown, ‘Afrofuturism’ Navigates Past, Present and Future of Black Experience, WASH.

POST (May 10, 2023, 1:48 PM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/05/10/national-museum-

african-american-history-culture-afrofuturism-history-black-futures/; National Museum of African American

History and Culture Announces New Exhibition Exploring Stories and Futures of Black Liberation, NAT’L

MUSEUM AFR. AM. HIST. & CULTURE (Nov. 9, 2022), https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-

The District of Columbia

5. BLACK PANTHER (Marvel Studios 2018).

6. BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (Marvel Studios 2022).

7. NEPTUNE FROST (Swan Films 2021).

8. Watchmen (HBO 2019); see also WATCHMEN (Warner Bros. 2009).

9. Lovecraft Country (HBO 2020).

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

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