So we’re here to talk about the future. What a terrifying and exciting place to be. And I am so humbled to introduce my friend, comrade, and mentor, Devin Barrington Ward.

But first, of course, I must talk about my love for afrofuturism. One of the greatest poetries of Black people.

A critique levied against Western time and place rooted exclusively in the Black lived experience. A telescope that draws our eyes into distant galaxies buried deep within. A reminder that even in the most dystopian of universes, love, truth and justice can never be erased…

Let me tell y’all, I am so thankful that my mother is a woman from Alabama that loves soul music and hip hop. That when we were chronically late dropping me off at school, at least we were listening to the Isley Brothers, Aaliyah, Missy Elliot, and Outkast. 

And for only a brief moment, the space and time continuum collapsed in on itself…

I am so appreciative that I was born and raised less than an hour away from where MLK Jr. famously wrote his letter from the Birmingham jail. Dissenting against the white moderate. Where he famously conjured up a portal to St Augustine, and in agreement, stated any unjust law is no law to follow at all.

See, I feel indebted to afrofuturism, because it reminds me that Dr. King’s letter writing in that jail cell, and those precious memories with my mother are not relics of the past. Separated by socially constructed calendar years… But interconnected phenomena that have produced this moment on earth that we have always shared together. 

The theme of this department conversation is “A call to action.” And, that’s a word. Because at this moment we need courage. In Academia. Sociology. Our department. Free speech is under attack. We need to stand for something that is just, even when it goes against bureaucratic policy. 

You see, I respect Devin so much, because ever since I met him in 2020 as a wee-baby organizer, I have seen someone who is ferocious in their integrity. He is committed to being a voice for Black people, for working class people, for rural peoples, for queer people.  

Devin has been bringing afro futurism to the streets for well over a decade through advancing policy reform. Shifting our social structure. He has worked in the political arena at our nation’s capital, he’s worked as a chief of staff in both the Georgia state house and state senate, and lord knows he is always at city council advancing a future where Black people can thrive. 

He is a champion of public health issues in our community, remaining a tireless advocate to end the HIV epidemic, and I am lucky to have worked alongside him in advocating for harm reductionist strategies and institutions that rehabilitate instead of criminalize our most vulnerable communities. 

He is the managing director of the Black Futurist Group and recent recipient of The People’s Response Fellowship from the Movement for Black Lives…Please welcome my dear friend, Devin Barrington-Ward.”