Putting the Afro in Punk

 

    Afro-Punk: The Documentary by James Spooner delves into the complex lives of the few black people in the punk scene during 2003. The most striking similarity between all of the people interviewed was that they all had the shared experience of being the only black people at any concert that they attended. Many of them also said that they we the only black people in their town or at their school and they felt that they did not fit into the black or white community due to their interests, how they looked, and what they like to dress like. Many of them, once they found a passion for the punk scene were ostracized or looked down upon by their family for how they dressed, what they believed, and what they were interested in. One girl even said that her mother felt she had gone crazy. Another young man said that because he dressed differently from other black people his age he would get beat up and made fun of by the black community. The black people that chose to like punk did not necessarily fit in perfectly with the black community or the punk community due to their differences. Similar to their experiences with their own racial community, these individuals faced a lot of ignorance from their white punk friends who would say and do things without thinking about how they would affect these individuals. Something that resonated was the fact that they all said that they can't change that they are black and that they identified with that aspect of themselves before anything else. This goes to show just how impactful the color of your skin is on your life due to the deeply rooted societal racism that plagues our nation.