"Summer of Soul" or Elon Musk? Who Owns the Future?

The story of how Summer of Soul pictured at top managed to see the light of day is almost as legendary as the film itself The concert film depicts performances from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival the brainchild of producer promoter and showman Tony Lawrence Footage recorded over the six concerts in Mount Morris Park from June 29 to August 24 1969 lay undiscovered in a basement for 50 years The concert is a revelation that featured stars such as Nina Simone Stevie Wonder and Sly ampamp The Family Stone to name a few The music remains stellar and it is transcendent as a moment of Black culture Watching the Harlem Cultural Festival over the course of the film is to witness the past and the futureAt the same period as the concerts the Apollo 11 lunar mission which famously landed humans on the moon39s surface was making headlines In one of the most telling scenes Black concertgoers were asked what they thought of the moon landing Their responses were primarily ambivalent The notion of spending money on a moon landing when so many Black citizens were living in squalid conditions seemed ridiculous As the Sixties were drawing to a close the disappointments of the Civil Rights and antiwar movements were reaching a climax The optimism for change so evident at the earlier part of the decade had succumbed to a hail of bullets and statesponsored violence committed on the secondclass status of Black citizens With this as a backdrop it is easy to see why Black people were less than enthused about a moon landing Poet and musician Gil ScottHeron sums it up best hereFast forward and selfstyled space colonizer Elon Musk has grand ambitions for space exploration and the future of the human species beyond our planetary boundaries Musk has been a vocal proponent and propagandist not just for space travel but for colonizing Mars As hard as it is to believe Musk is taken seriously despite ideas like this this and yes this Musk39s earthly endeavors that deal with real human beings and issues of race have been far less laudatoryBeyond the lawsuit mentioned above Tesla was ordered to pay a Black employee 137MM in a discrimination suit Musk is also notoriously antiunion which is a position that cuts across the intersectionality of labor and race Despite this Time Magazine saw it fit to make Musk its Person of the Year for 2021 What does it mean when someone incapable or unwilling to address inequity within their own companies also aspires to take their beliefs and value system beyond our planetSummer of Soul in 1969 and the ongoing reclamation or elevation I forget which of Elon Musk reflect our choices and shed light on whose voices are elevated Culture is defined as the shared world of ideas and values that connect us and are manifested through people places formal and informal networks Culture is not a static moment in time Culture lives in the past present and future sometimes simultaneouslyAn almost forgotten concert film can illuminate the long tail of societal shortcomings from 1969 to 2022 The Harlem Cultural Festival was very much about the future The organizers curated an event that captured the essence of the Black experience optimism and love in the face of a present that offered little of either While the audience might have been less focused on the imminent moon landing they responded to the afrofuturist vibes of Sly ampamp The Family Stone and the souldrenched folk of Fifth Dimension The hopes and aspirations of the audience might not have pointed to the stars but they were no less focused on the future Their future was grounded in the immediate celebration of Black ingenuity artistry and communityOur cultural present is laying the track for our future We can create a vibrant and alive future representing a clean break from the settlercolonial mentality What voices and whose work will be relegated to the vault versus the cover of major publications Maybe it39s less about who will own the future and more about who will cocreate the future But either way if we can39t trust your present we sure as hell can39t trust your futureClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"Summer of Soul" or Elon Musk? Who Owns the Future?

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Philip McKenzie

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