The hagiography of Treyvon Martin is out of this world
That's a shitty pun, I know. Nevertheless, this story is beyond parody. Trayvon Martin's Flight Suit Will Be Displayed At This New Smithsonian Exhibit What? His flight suit? I didn't know Treyvon Martin was a record breaking pilot or astronaut. What is going in here?
A new exhibition titled “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” debuted at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to examine Afrofuturist expression and culture as it relates to music, activism, art, and more.
We need to define Afrofuturism. This is the Smithsonian definition:
Afrofuturism is an evolving concept expressed through a Black cultural lens that reimagines, reinterprets, and reclaims the past and present for a more empowering future for African Americans. Afrofuturism expresses notions of Black identity, agency, and freedom through art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life.
We are in a moment where we can see examples of Afrofuturism’s influence and impact on our culture. The term has entered our lexicon from the popularity of films like “Black Panther,” yet it has historically been a significant driver of African American culture and expression.
From the cosmologies of ancient black civilizations, to era of slavery and to the present day, African Americans have re-imagined the futures and possibilities of black people across the globe through the dynamic lens of Afrofuturism and this exhibit explores how Black artists, orators, leaders and intellectuals have utilized themes of technology, sci-fi, space and heroism to envision futures of black liberation and convey an expansive image of the black experience.
It's fiction. It's making shit up. It's pretending that Wakanda is real Back to the Essence article.
At the center of the new 4,300-square-foot temporary exhibition set to open next March is Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther suit, which the late actor wore in the’ 2018 film “Black Panther.”
According to a press release from NMAAHC, the exhibit also aims to tell stories of Black liberation and social equality through objects such as Trayvon Martin’s flight suit and dreams of becoming an astronaut as a young boy.
“Trayvon Martin’s flight suit tells the story of a dream of space flight ended tragically by earthbound violence,” said Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Inspired by his uncle Ronnie, Trayvon Martin aspired to work in the aviation field. He wore this flight suit when he attended Experience Aviation in his early teens. According to his father, Tracy Martin, “It was a badge of honor for the students to have the flight suit with the patches on it. It was part of their uniform for the program. He loved it. He loved it.”
They are "reimagining" Treyvon Martin. Just as these people believe that Wakanda is what Africa.would have been like without European influence, they believe Treyvon Martin would have been an astronaut without George Zimmerman. Experience Aviation is a noble endeavor. It's a aviation based science camp for teens founded by a truly praiseworthy black aviator. He's getting ignored for a fantasy about Treyvon Martin that is being concocted. It's honestly very sad that the Smithsonian is now involved in the fabrication of the myth of the martyr Saint Treyvon Martin. Maybe in some future Smithsonian, this will br included in a display on the collapse of American society.