The History of Our Future

Tuesday, Februray 24, 2009
By Vetalle Fusilier

It’s been quite a quiet February for us, not as many black film retrospectives on cable.  I live in Washington DC, and I haven’t heard the Benjamin Banneker story once this month.  There seems to be more concern about the living now than our illustrious African American past.  Imagine our black icon monument addiction being cured by an urgency to create the history of our future.  And a new history it is. The Best Picture Oscar winner is a movie titled Slum Dog Millionaire, and we didn’t write, produce, or act in it. Whoa.

We all marveled at Jen Hudson at the Super Bowl singing, no nailing our national anthem like she was singing about a country with a black president, and then testifying at the Grammy’s.  While the Auto Tunes debate rages and Li’l Wayne has an interview with Katie Couric that portrays him as the best rapper alive and a bit more human than his swag will admit, we are assured that music is in good hands with the Berklee College of Music instructor Esperanza Spalding.  Watch her now and see the historic first performances of the future jazz Diva.

President Obama isn’t the only one to make history with his use of the Internet to re-define the game.  We are all starring in our histories, documenting and distributing our days and decisions real time.  Now I haven’t seen or spoken to you in a while, but I know your daughter has fifth’s disease, or what you had for lunch, because you recorded your status, and perhaps update it every couple  hours  on Facebook or Twitter. Our lives are our own, our choices demonstrated in our attraction to Tiger over Lebron.  History is always today remembered tomorrow.  It’s just this now has given us more tools to document our lives, to show the world black is all colors combined, that we are only monolithic in our claim of blackness. Lupe sings about skateboarding: Cowboy Troy is the king of hick hop. We are multi-culti, more important multi-culti is us.

Frequently at Whosetube, our bigger sistas have been referred to with reverence and respect. Give it up Oprah, just do you, the bigger you that you are. But that’s another story, and all the weight watchers have an opinion on it.   But it should be a surprise to no one that after all the water and molasses diets have cleansed, but not shrunk many of us, the big sistas will rise with swagger. You heard it here first. Not that it is a new concept; there have always been pretty phat girlz.

Athletically our future is the newest version of the old saying:
”there goes the neighborhood.” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin at 36, the youngest coach to win a Super bowl, Doc Rivers extending the legacy of Russell, KC Jones, forecasts a future of ballin’ that finally gives our minds the respect that our athletic bodies have garnered for decades. However, Dwight Howard dunking on the 12-foot rim is but one example to let the world know we are not done wowing the world with our physicality.

Now we lay the groundwork for our future and it will more than likely be read, rather than heard.  Who knew “Reading is Fundamental” would be so prophetic.   While grown ups spend time calculating the sheer number of texts being sent back and forth among our youth, most ignore the basic advantage of texting over talking: privacy.  No one wants to keep their conversating more to themselves than our young.  And while you could overhear them talking about whatever it is they want to remain private, you can’t eavesdrop on a text.  Many of us exchange our now with each other, typing with our thumbs. Soon,  “then” will not only be what you saw and heard, but what words you saw that conveyed it to you.  The writer in you will speak to the writer in whomever you chose.  And as a writer, I like that.

Texting Boondocks

Vetalle Fusilier is a writer and producer living in Washington, D.C. It’s pronounced VEE-tal FEW-suh-LEER.