The moment that black people were forced into slavery they lost their status as humans. As Sun Ra said, “they’re not real and they don’t exist. If they did exist his people [blacks] wouldn 't be seeking equal rights. If they did exist they would have some status among the nations of the world. Black people are myths.” This radical idea gives importance and representation to a race that has forever been a minority. Afrofuturism as a whole, works to “demonstrate a substantive historical presence.” The posthuman, specifically, represents the body and being of black people, since society had denied them status as humans. Posthumanism shows that, while human bodies usually progress in a linear fashion, black bodies exploit science by transcending
…show more content…
They don’t simply come after humans as their name might imply, but instead have to do with their relationship and place in society. As history shows, black people have always been a minority discriminated against. Because of that they haven 't been able to progress as a hegemonic society might have. Their existence on earth is non-linear, being both treated as inferior and as superhuman. In the film Strange Days post humanism is show through a black female character named “Mace.” In the last two days of 1999 Los Angeles has become a chaotic war zone. A device called the squid has the ability to capture memories through the cerebral cortex, causing the memory to be felt in every part of a persons body. A squid tape of a brutal assault and rape leads Mace, and her limousine rider Lenny, to discover the covered up murder of rapper Jeriko One because of his politically charged music. As Jeriko One is a black, he raps about being a minority and the violence brought upon him because of the “black, black, black” color of his skin. Both Mace and Jeriko show the “less than human” side of post humanism. Mace is a limo driver, whose opinion isn 't valued by her friend Lenny for a majority of the film, and Jeriko was killed by the police for speaking up about black justice. They both aren 't allowed decent human rights and therefore much less than a
They don’t simply come after humans as their name might imply, but instead have to do with their relationship and place in society. As history shows, black people have always been a minority discriminated against. Because of that they haven 't been able to progress as a hegemonic society might have. Their existence on earth is non-linear, being both treated as inferior and as superhuman. In the film Strange Days post humanism is show through a black female character named “Mace.” In the last two days of 1999 Los Angeles has become a chaotic war zone. A device called the squid has the ability to capture memories through the cerebral cortex, causing the memory to be felt in every part of a persons body. A squid tape of a brutal assault and rape leads Mace, and her limousine rider Lenny, to discover the covered up murder of rapper Jeriko One because of his politically charged music. As Jeriko One is a black, he raps about being a minority and the violence brought upon him because of the “black, black, black” color of his skin. Both Mace and Jeriko show the “less than human” side of post humanism. Mace is a limo driver, whose opinion isn 't valued by her friend Lenny for a majority of the film, and Jeriko was killed by the police for speaking up about black justice. They both aren 't allowed decent human rights and therefore much less than a