The First Black Man to Save the World - Anika W.

 Before I read the article Black Space by Adilifu Nama, I was talking to my black dad about afro-futurism and asking if he knew about it. One example he asked was "Are Will Smith movies afro-futurism?". I said I'm sure they are. He said he remembers Will Smith being the first black man to save the world in a movie. And that movie was Independence Day. He's 40-something so the term afro-futurism is new to him. He just knows it as "niggas" in "dope" sci-fi movies. The fact that my dad is only 40 and knows Will Smith to be one of the first black men in sci-fi shows how little representation African American people had in sci-fi entertainment. He saw himself in a movie for once. We brought up other movies Nama mentioned as well, such as I Robot and Men In Black. 

    Before black people looked cool in movies, we were depicted as villains and monsters. Excepssialy in sci-fi movies such as The Time Machine. They couldn't come up with something else? On top of that, to have a white man save the day in these movies was the thing. And it was more for themselves rather than for a larger message of a greater good. Or if we want to say the larger message is that white is good, black is bad. While black heroes have more on their shoulders too. They have a larger message and pressure to represent African Americans in a good light for once. It's not just a character they can play.