Ytasha L. Womack, the author of Afrofuturism: The world of Black sci-fi and fantasy culture (which I’m currently reading) defines it as:

An intersection of imagination, technology, the future and liberation

If you’ve been watching Soul of a Nation, you may recognize her from the second episode who’s theme was “Next”.

I’m not even into the second chapter of her book and my mind is regularly being blown, so to speak.

As someone who very much identified as a Black geek throughout middle school and high school, who regularly lost himself in sci-fi and fantasy books well past my bed time, and would end up becoming co-president of the chess club and co-captain of the math team (yes I was a mathlete), it’s a little frustrating that in looking back, the closest thing to representation I can think of was…

…you may have guessed it: Steve Urkel. Was Urkel better than nothing…sure, I guess. But it wasn’t exactly a depiction of a Black geek that garnered respect in passing references, especially in middle and high school.

But now…I mean, I’ve got blerDCon, a Con (or Fan Convention) FOR BLACK NERDS aka Blerds, in DC!!

If you would’ve told me 20 some years ago that I might be attending a convention with a whole lot of other Black nerds and geeks, I absolutely wouldn’t have believed you.

Because white supremacy is the mind-killer, and I simply couldn’t imagine it. And that’s what’s so potent about Afrofuturism is that it unlocks the ultimate key to Black liberation, and that is Black imagination, unshackled by, well…racism.

But I digress. If you’re looking for books to read, and you haven’t gotten this one yet, this is a must-read. The most recent passage that had me particularly shook, and I thought I’d just quote it here, to provide a tangential but completed related prompt, was an anecdote of Ytasha being in a college class where her African American History teacher asked the students:

Which came first, racism or slavery?

And there is a right answer.

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