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ARTE NOIR EDITORIAL

DREAMING THE FUTURE

It can be incredibly challenging to capture a vision for the future when the present feels bleak and chaotic.  Darius Simpson wrote a poem, Perhaps We Are Our Ancestors' Wildest Dreams, often simplified in shared quotes as “We are our ancestors' wildest dreams.” We believe that whatever gains have been accomplished are the manifestation of the dreams held by those whose bondage denied them any level of liberation. We are their future vision.


Each month, but particularly at this time, we see a throughline of how those who came before us envisioned a better future for each of us. It is also a time when the current generation is putting down roots and planting seeds that will nourish the next generation.

 

African artist Qudus Onikeku articulates in his statement on the upcoming Afropolis some profound concepts about ancestral aspirations. (Full statement reprinted here) He poses the following as part of his call for new myths:


“So, what happens when a society is ordered by hegemonic ideologies? This question acknowledges that prior to colonial encounters, our ancestors had aspirations for our societies, there must have been an imagined future in that great past.”

 

When Jacob Lawrence painted the Migration Series, he was telling stories about the movement of African Americans from the rural South into Northern cities where there was new industry offering hope for life beyond severe oppression. The series is one that both documents movement, and envisions what better future such movement might offer.

 

At this very moment, we are being called to visualize a very different political future. It is a time when Black influence and Black intellect will be a distinct premium to power desired outcomes.

 

While chaos swirls around us like a desert dustbowl, our eyes must find ways to catch glimpses of and hold fast to a Black future. At ARTE NOIR we are embracing the concept of Black Thought for Black Futures in our programming and collaborative partnerships. We seek to nourish thoughts and ideas by stimulating health and wellness, expanding the sense of connection and belonging, and preserving Black traditions through honor and respect for Black art and culture.


Trust your dreams and believe in the future, just as our ancestors must have dreamt a future for us.



Perhaps We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams


Or  liberation was bludgeoned by so many reforms it stopped              

             showing up on picket signs

             maybe wildest dreams tripped on a pile of chain-linked

             orange jumpsuits then fell

             down by the riverside waded

             in forehead-height water but couldn’t swim

             maybe capitalists are ravenous beasts with recyclable diets

             for the wrong skin all parts of human existence turn plastic

             maybe as long as there are cages there will be

             mouths to feed off of them

Or we were en route to another planet but fell

             off  the back of the magic school bus

             and every decade we invent a dance / a new language / to plan

             our escape back home

Or America should be in our stomachs

             maybe we was the flood god sent

             four centuries ago that didn’t finish its plate

             maybe Denmark Vesey had a solid blueprint

             but needed more people on the job

             maybe civil rights is a carrot dangling in front of a rabbit on a treadmill

Or the sky called and wants its children back

             but the earth is a selfish tantrum holding

             onto toys that don’t belong to it

Or, and hear me out, we just out here tryna function

             maybe black excellence is white supremacy’s baby cousin

             maybe excellence is the unstained white collar on my father’s favorite

             blazer after a night of line dancing and endless refills on scotch

             maybe $10 before 11:00 is the closest thing we got

             to a revolution tonight

             perhaps the neon gold glisten off a rope

             chain is a kind of rebellion

Or it’s just a wonder we survive the genocide.



Vivian Phillips, Founder + Board President











National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Conference, 1944

In 1944 the NAACP held a conference in Chicago. Among the dignitaries present was Chicago alderman Earl B. Dickerson (front row to the left of woman in black hat). Photographer: Unknown Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37937)

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