Black Future Month

Graphic by Hailey Stessman/The Gateway

Black Future Month

While recently mentioned by Kanye, a conversation around Black future Month began long before he said it. A book titled How Long until Black Future Month by N.K. Jeminsin, Published in 2018, focused on Afro-futurism, is a set of collective essays. Secondly, The Movement for Black Lives, an organization that focuses on Blackness and the various ways a human can live in Blackness, established their Black Future Month in 2021. We say all this to say the concept of Black Future Month is not new. 

The idea of Black Future Month is to see ourselves and our legacies in the future progressively in all facets of life. In safety. In love. In economic success. We deserve it all. And we will get it in equity and dignity. While Black History Month is significantly important, please know that we believe Black History is American History. So understand that for us, it is more so that Black influence, intellect, and innovation can not be relegated to a month. American history will not minimize how it has become so “great” off of the enslaved and their descendants. Black Future Month harnesses the trauma, pain, and imagination of those before us, and we orient ourselves to break the generational curses of our families and communities. So, just know when we say Black Future Month, we are really just letting y’all see what we and others have manifested. The Black Future initiative is about the resolution of generational curses, the sustainability of love and wealth, and the overall greatness that we embody. We are our ancestors' wildest dreams, remember? They harbored the blueprints and imagination to get us here, and we are meant to do the same. The past, aka history, is intended to inform us to no longer repeat.

In contrast, the future is meant for us to look towards for inspired thought and liberation. One of Harriett Tubman’s critical resources for freedom was the North Star. “Celestial wayfinding knowledge—navigating by observing the stars and other night sky patterns—passed from generation to generation” (NPS, West, 2022). She was informed by her history and present long enough. 

Harriet saw a new future and knew how to orient herself to get to it continuously.

Photo By Glendale Community College

Built by Black History, Sustained by Black Future 

We are where Black History and Black Future meet. What Oliver North has forged and created with OTO and what the team is executing is unlike anything that has been seen before. OK2D, D4C, and BVO-YOU are each a part of the legacy we want to leave and the future we want to see, but collectively they create a necessary launching pad. We talk about DEI and social-emotional learning here because our history and lived experience have informed us. That is why OK2D, D4C, BVO-YOU, and our other services are so impactful. It encompasses lived experience with research-based strategies with revolutionary delivery. 

In education, there is something called an overarching learning goal. “Overarching Learning Goals are about connection. When an OLG is written effectively, it connects students to learning, connects students to deep thinking, connects teachers with each other, and teachers with policy” (Leichnitz, 2017).  To have a complete assembly (OK2D), a diversity, equity, and inclusion training for students, administrators, and staff (D4C and others), and a social-emotional, relationship-based mentoring program for students? (🗣 Again, where do they do that at?!) These programs understand that an overarching goal is more profound than a single overarching learning objective. These multi-tiers of support we provide focus on unearthing implicit biases along with relationship building and healing, which transcends policy, administration, staff, and students. So understand, we are still talking about Black Future here because what Oliver and the team are doing is informed by our history, but what has been done (and what we will do) is unprecedented. But also understand that the goals we have in mind are for all. Just understand that goal is rooted in equity—equitable education. Equitable resources. Equitable opportunities. Equitable compassion. All of it. This perspective heals the collective.

We all harbor the blueprint and imagination to create the world we desire. It is an honor to be informed by those who have come before us that let us know that anything is possible. It is humbling to be a part of the kind of work that transcends time. Past, present, or future in mind, we are a culmination of that. And just like us, the work you are meant to do will touch every part of it. So we ask of you, just like Harriet, look true north. Your future lies ahead of you. Now orient yourself towards it. 

The best way too build the future is to create it - Anonymous