AFROFuturism Needs More Evil Black Villains!

Great Fiction is driven by forces of extreme evil -- individuals and organizations willing to reject existing circumstances and use maleficence for unconventional goals. In popular fiction, these are the bad guys. Sherlock Holmes has his deadly nemesis, Professor Moriarty,  who sought world dominance. But villainy is more than the Batman against the Joker or Superman vs. Lex Luthor and other similar overworked themes.

Villains can have fearsome power; they have the ability to change the narrative and build a future based on their whims. This is a task not for the weak. 

In AFROFuturism, we need literary villains to reek dire havoc on society and make it responsive to the needs of people of color; because on occasion, the faces of Black villains become interchangeable with champions who can alter our day-to-day lives and offer freedom. Thus, they bring awesome weapons to the arena. 

Tell your local Black writers to give us more bad guys of African descent. Only they can save us from the greater evils that we face in our novels and reality. Sometimes, you need evil to fight evil for the good of all us. Villains, at least for a period of time, can be the winners.

The First Empire to Strike Back!

Take A Look at an AFROFuturism Masterpiece

In the 1930s, George Schuyer, an ultra conservative Black writer, published a satirical attack against Marcus Garvey, the Black church, the Harlem Renaissance and other rising AFROCentric movements during a difficult time in America for  multiculturism. Schuyler considered his writings to be a hilarious joke as "hokum and hack work of the purest vein." 

Yet, for more than two years, Schuyler's serialized exploits of a ruthless Black genius who actively plotted to conquer Western civilization, captured legions of enthusiastic Black readers. They were fascinated by a fictional organization that created futuristic technology to change Black lives.

During the ugly economic collapse of the Great Depression, nearly a decade before World War II,  popular sci-fi media of the time exalted the exploits of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in movie theaters and radio, but only in the pulp magazines and newspapers which sold for pennies The Black Internationale: Story of Black Genius Against the World and the sequel, Black Empire: An Imaginative Story of a Great New Civilization in Modern Africa appeared and was passed hand-to-hand among Black readers who marveled at the mere speculation of a future when people of color were masters of technology and able to chart their destinies. Originally written under the pseudonym, Samuel I. Brooks, George Schuyler penned for the black weekly newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier,  the story of Carl Slater, who accidentally witnesses a white woman's murder in Harlem.  Slater is drawn into the machinations of the deadly Dr. Henry Belsidus, leader of the Black Internationale, an elite organization of Black professionals determined to liberate Africa and restore Blacks to their rightful position of dominance on the planet. The calculating Belsidus seems maniacal, but he  reveals to Slater a cunning plan:

"My son, all great schemes appear mad in the beginning.  Christians, Communists, Fascists and Nazis were at first called scary.  Success made them sane.  With brains, courage and wealth even the most  fantastic scheme can become a reality.  I have dedicated my life, Slater, to destroying white world supremacy.  My ideal and objective is very frankly to cast down Caucasians and elevate the colored  people in their places.  I plan to do this by every means within my power.  I intend to stop at nothing, Slater, whether right or wrong.  Right is success.  Wrong is failure.  I will not fail because  I am ruthless.  Those who fail are them men who get sentimental, who weaken, who balk at a little bloodshed.  Such vermin deserve to fail.  Every great movement the world has ever seen has  collapsed because it grew weak.  I shall never become weak, nor shall I ever tolerate weakness around me.  Weakness means failure, Slater, and I do not intend to fail."

Sorry! You were not the first.

Written at the break-neck speed of  a "Perils of Pauline" weekly melodrama, every chapter in Black Empire is booby-trapped with dire dangers and neck-twisting turnabouts.

Star Wars' Luke and Hans faced evil Darth Vader and supernatural forces. In the 1930s, AFROFuturists like George Schuyer were building hope by envisioning Black women and men of power to inspire and enlighten.

The world needs strong black villains and great heroes to confront them. We need AFROFuturism.

Photo Credit: Sorry, I found Afro Hans and Leia on the Internet randomly. I would love to give the rightful creator due credit for borrowing this image. E-mail me. Thanks.

Southern Ghosts & AFRO Horror

The South is Alive with Dead AFRO Spooks

When Africans against their will were brought to the Americas, their vengeful gods and dire demons came with them in anger and lust for human souls. So be wary of the knocking noises from the locked door in the rear of the house.  Fear the large tree in the backyard that moans in the breeze as branches sway towards you.

Maggie pouted. “I thought you were a top notch reporter. Did you research anything relevant for this story?”

“Of course,” said Quinton refocusing his attention on his job instead of her exposed, smooth thigh. “Your big tree out back is supposed to be haunted just like every other large tree in North Carolina. Evidently, a runaway slave on his way to sanctuary in the Great Dismal Swamp was caught and chained to this particular tree as a bloody lesson for other runaways that came this way. But these slave catchers were a really sadistic bunch of Appalachian inbreeds. They kept the runaway alive, and had a big celebration. Big party. Booze, fiddlers, games, and feast. They expertly carved off pieces of the man and made stew. Fingers, toes, ears, hands, skin were all part of the main dish. Legend tells us that the man survived for nearly 6 days in incredible pain. His wails could be heard for miles around. But the slave catchers just prodded their musicians to play a little louder and they danced a little harder.

"On the morning of day 7, a decision was made to finish the meal and head back home in the hills. But a thick fog rushed in and the man, or what was left of him vanished in an instant. Only his bloody chains wrapped around the trunk remained as if the tree had swallowed him whole. The white men pondered what to do next. A group picked up their axes and saws and agreed to hack down the tree. As they approached the giant oak, however, leaves began rustling, then the branches of the tree shook violently while its roots angrily rose up out of the ground and began clawing and ripping human flesh. The slave catchers tried to run away but a howling African tree demon strangled all of the men except for one who somehow got away.”

Quinton shuddered. “The story is told in various versions. But the end result is the same.”

Maggie rocked in her chair quietly for a few moments. Then she offered, “Lemonade?”

                 -- Excerpt from "The Lynching" in the AFRO Sci-fi Anthology. Available "free" at Amazon for a limited time.

The Southern states of the USA are rich in history and mysticism. It is a delicious blend of native Americans, African laborers, and European colonialists. Stir in deadly snake and gator infested wetlands, mysterious coastal islands inhabited by plantation escapees, Black Cajuns thriving in the deepest recesses of the Bayou. Picture the infamous "shotgun house" where many stories of horror and heroism were conjured.

Every culture from every inhabited continent on the planet has ghost stories.  Likewise, Africans and the Disapora have a lot to scare us with as well as enlighten.