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Thursday, March 28, 2024

AfroPunk fest provides safe space, Black pride

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This past weekend, I scratched one major thing off my bucket list … I went to AfroPunk!

I’ve dreamt of attending this event, which the New York Times has described as “the most multicultural festival in the U.S.,” for the past couple years, but each time there was something holding me back. This time around, I decided I owed it to myself to be in New York City for what was sure to be a life-changing experience. I am so glad I did.

The two-day music, arts and activism festival was held in Brooklyn on Aug. 27–28 and featured more than 60 live performances. Some of the standouts included Nikki Giovanni, Laura Mvula, George Clinton, Tyler the Creator and Flying Lotus. Sunday night proved to be a music-lover’s paradise as Janelle Monae, The Internet, Fishbone, Bad Brains, Living Colour and Ice Cube took the evening stage.

The fashion, which ranged from the safe and mundane to otherworldly insane, was enough to literally stop you in your tracks. Everything from afro-centric chic, steampunk and harajuku was on display. For 48 hours, Commodore Barry Park — the borough’s oldest park — was transformed into a place where prejudice was intolerable and boundaries were seemingly non-existent.

In a time when our country is experiencing constant turmoil, it was pleasant to be somewhere different, somewhere free from the boundaries of oppression and prejudice. There is quite literally nowhere else on this planet where one could be free to exhibit their Blackness, their weirdness in such an unabashed manner.

The festival, which began in 2005 in an attempt to showcase African-centered creativity and thought, borrows its name from a documentary film on Black punk culture in the United States. It has since expanded to host events in London, Paris and Atlanta, welcoming thousands of people at each stop.

Beyond the film and beyond the festival, AfroPunk is a culture all its own. The credo, which was plastered on signs all over the park (along with banners declaring the bathrooms liberated from gender binaries), states the following: No sexism. No racism. No ableism. No homophobia. No transphobia. No hatefulness.

I talked with a few festivalgoers about what it means for them to live in a world free from phobia and hate. K’Mia Clarrett, an Anderson, Indiana, resident, said that for her, it means being in a workplace free from gender discrimination and racial stereotypes. A Nigerian-born photographer, Najee Nasim, shared with me during an impromptu photo shoot that a world without hate should be the norm.

“This is what it’s supposed to be. No police brutality, no gang-on-gang violence, just everybody from different communities and different cultures, different vibes, everything, just getting together and being one. This whole pro-Black thing … this is my first time here, and I love it. I’m a very shy person, so this is making me come out of my comfort zone and introduce myself to people. For me to experience this, it’s a beautiful thing, and I’ll be coming here every year.”

Junadda Petrus, a multidimensional artist from Minneapolis, remarked that the AfroPunk movement’s success is due to its deliberate focus on inclusivity, something that may have been missing from other movements of its type. “I’m really amazed … it’s a Black movement that’s actually centering and has a deep inclusion. It’s very radical, arts-based and afro-futuristic and very historical. I think in order for a punk culture to truly exist, especially if we’re looking at the African sort of thought, it does have to be totally radically inclusive, and that hasn’t always been what’s centralized in movements.”

Indianapolis resident Freddy Olaoye noted that festivals like AfroPunk might be the starting point for people to gain new consciousness. “For something like (no hate), it would change everything. You get festivals like these and ideally everyone holds the same standards; I know that’s not true, but the fact that everyone is trying to become aware of it means that it goes better. Consciousness doesn’t start with denial; it starts instead with deciding, ‘Alright, I’m not going to do these things.’

“(The hate) may still come out, but you’re at least trying. I think that means it gives people a place to start. You can actually come with some respect — here, you feel worthy and loved. There’s a lot of love here.”

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