In loving memory of General Alhaji Bushura, our beloved Uncle.
In memory of Marcellus Williams and the billions we’ve lost unjustly since the MAAFA began.
Hoteps, Stand Up.
It was in Brooklyn that I first learned what a Hotep was, in the mid 2000s. The vegan restaurant, Imhotep, just blocks from my Crown Heights apartment, was where we'd listen in on elders' conversations about Marcus Garvey and the impending Fall of Babylon. Rastaman did plenty fi road*, and they would put us on to some transformative–though intimidating–knowledge.
Before Umar Johnson and his ilk messed up the brand, these unconventional thinkers were the prophets of our communities.
Arrest for Larceny. Malcolm X Graham. 1944, Boston. Quote: Oxford Union Debate. 1964, Oxford University.
Hoteps have long exposed the truth of the music industry, the medical industrial complex, Israel, the prison industrial complex, metaphysical manifestation, and the critical importance of eating to live… All well before the masses caught on. Hoteps had to withstand ridicule in order to enlighten people about the gaping truths left out of western education.
We often say that such people are ahead of their time. We wait for them to die and then 20-30 years later talk about how “ahead of their time” they were. Ọlọrun ma jẹ**.
Below is some more Revolutionary Scripture for you from the Patron Saint of Hoteps himself, a man whose life-long work set the tone for the 21st century Pan-Africanism we now enjoy.
He was the ideological forefather to Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party and all who have since sacrificed for our Liberation with a heart set on Africa. Here are some unforgettable words from Marcus Mosiah Garvey, spoken just before he began his five-year prison sentence in Atlanta:
"When I am dead, wrap the mantle of the red, the black, and the green around me, for in the new life I shall rise up with God's grace and blessing to lead the millions to the heights, and the triumphs that you well know.
Look for me in the whirlwind or a storm, look for me all around you, for with God's grace I shall come back with countless millions of black men and women who have died in America, those who have died in the West Indies, and those who have died in Africa to aid you in the fight for liberty, freedom, and life…
Any leadership that teaches you to depend upon another race is a leadership that will enslave you. Any leadership that teaches you to depend upon another race is a leadership that will enslave you. They gave leadership to our fore-parents and that leadership made them slaves. But we have decided to find a leadership of our own, to make ourselves free men…
Babylon did it. Assyria did it. France under Napoleon did it. Germany under Prince von Bismarck did it. England under... America under George Washington did it. Africa with 400 million black people can do it.
If you cannot do it, if you are not prepared to do it, then you will die… If you cannot do what other men have done, what other nations have done, what other races have done, then you had better die!
Can we do it?
We can do it?
We shall do it."
*There were plenty of Rastas around (Jamaican Patois) **God forbid (Yoruba)
New World Haven is an Afrofuturist anime comic telling the story of how New Haven became an equitable smart city, through digital screens placed throughout the city.
We still can do it.
Using the Spiritual Technology of collective visualization, while operationalizing our self-actualization, we can accelerate the process of collective Liberation.
“we must stop imagining destruction + extraction + deforestation + cages + torture + displacement + surveillance + genocide! we must stop predicting apocalypses + fascist governments + capitalist hierarchies! we must pursue + predict + imagine routes towards liberation!” - Demian DinéYazhi
New World Haven is our upcoming public platform for uplifting Liberated narratives through in-person, online and hybrid activations. Visit the project page to learn more.
Need help organizing your work? Take advantage of our Scrum team to prioritize your projects, integrating your tasks into a project management system. Setup a call here to learn more.
Need help building dope, strategic, humanist technology? Check out the Brooklyn Innovation Portal and then ask us here how we can help bring your tech dreams to life.
This Samuel A. Blay digital painting casts Marcus Garvey in an armor-like brilliance, in a titanium-tinted ode to Benin Bronzes. Cool, burnished hues of blue and silver envelop Garvey, evoking his role as a protector and eternal military leader. This powerful tribute blends Afrofuturist style with the strength of Garvey’s enduring legacy as an uncompromising champion for global Black unity.
Blay is a Ghanaian-born graphic designer and self-taught visual artist whose work celebrates Black culture and royalty. His Afrofuturistic style, fueled by vibrant Ghanaian roots, captures the strength and beauty of Black kings and queens. Through his digital art, Blay creates empowering pieces that honor heritage and inspire pride.
The Marcus Garvey speech from which the above scripture comes can be played here. We highly recommend you take a listen. The transcript is also provided at that link.
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