Alisha B. Wormsley
The Last Billboard (Jon Rubin project 2009–2018)
East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Photo by Jon Rubin 2018
THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE
ALISHA WORMSLEY
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Alisha B. Wormsley
The Last Billboard (Jon Rubin project 2009–2018)
East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Photo by Jon Rubin 2018
It started out as a Black-nerd sci-fi joke.
The phrase, which I began using in 2013, was forged as a response to the lack of nonwhite faces in science fiction films and television. To quote the writer Florence Okoye, “Afrofuturism dares to suggest that not only will Black people exist in the future, but that we will be makers and shapers of it, too.”
“There Are Black People in the Future” became my mantra.
Alisha B. Wormsley
There Are Black People in the Future: Totems iPhone, Homewood, 2014
There Are Black People in the Future as a project has become an archive of information, histories, and myths that continue despite the apocalyptic narrative of Black American culture. I choose the term “apocalyptic” consciously, as it is informed by the reality that Black American neighborhoods are struggling to survive. This body of work has taken and can take many forms: video, installation, street art, performance, and most recently, the billboard.
I knew what placing my billboard in the neighborhood of East Liberty, Pennsylvania, could mean the moment Jon Rubin, founder of The Last Billboard project, asked. I had a clear vision of what it could mean in Pittsburgh, in this country, and more broadly across the globe as visitors would see it and share it with their networks. I had a hope for the conversations that could arise and what PTSD could be addressed. I relished in the ability to share something that could be so healing in this social climate. Something that could be reassuring to those who needed to see it. This project became more than a project—it became something magical and fantastic. It was a prophecy.
In spring 2018, when The Last Billboard project’s landlord, We Do Property, forcibly removed the text—over objections to the content—I was deeply saddened.
Despite this sadness, I am buoyed by how my Pittsburgh has rallied in support of this project. I think we all know what it is to have discomfort. Let’s begin to work on methods to constructively investigate that discomfort without using power over anyone or anything else. It is not my calling to lead people in any given direction. An artist who inspires me told me, “Your job is to promote thought, not to tell people how to think. To provoke feeling, not to tell people how to feel.” However you might feel, whatever you might think, THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.
Finally, this text is a sentence I do not own; it is for anyone who wants to use it. Please, take it.
WORMSLEY