Black Diamonds & Pearls

Imagine That

In 1996 two of the dopest artists of all time collaborated on a new song that shook up the hip-hop community. The song was If I Ruled the World (Imagine That), and the artists were Nas and Lauryn Hill. This was Lauryn Hill with the Fugees, two years before she dropped her seminal work The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and became a megastar, and Nas, that two years earlier dropped Illmatic, considered one of the best hip-hop albums ever because of his lyricism and the rawness in how he spoke to 80s and 90s ghetto life. The song launched Nas into international fame because its theme was one that many could identify with, dreaming or imagining a world better than the one we’ve all inherited.

The world Nas inherited was ravaged by the crack epidemic of the 80s and President Regan’s subsequent War on Drugs. His world was impacted by the disinvestment in urban cities and the rise of gangs and violence that this disinvestment brought. Nas found a way to hope for a better world in the face of his present reality. He imagines a world free from police brutality, mass incarceration, and violence; while envisioning safe communities where our daughters are cared for, black people have material wealth and enjoy a long life. He also imagines a world free to pursue life’s pleasures uninhibited. He raps about weed, women with no sexual boundaries, and no punishment for crimes (though Nas may mean that crime would no longer exists). He would help bring these things forth if he RULED THE WORLD. This is Naz’s idealization of the world, not mine, but it speaks to a concept I would like to explore, Afrofuturism.

“Afrofuturism is a genre that centers Black history and culture and incorporates science-fiction, technology, and futuristic elements into literature, music, and the visual arts. Often using current social movements or popular culture as a backdrop, Afrofuturism focuses on works that examine the past, question the present, or imagine an optimistic future, and are meant to inspire a sense of pride in its audience.”¹

Nas lyricised his way through the world he inherited and dreamed of a better future, a different future, from a reimagined past. The 1990s was a decade filled with uncertainty. In 1990 Nelson Mandela, a South African political prisoner, was freed from his 27-year-long imprisonment and became the President of South Africa. The East Coast-West Coast rap battle reached boiling point with the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls (Christopher George Latore Wallace). The Soviet Union collapsed. The LA Riots of 1992 took place after four Officers involved in the Rodney King beating were acquitted. Centennial Olympic Park was bombed during the 1996 Olympic Games hosted in Atlanta, GA. And The 103 Congress and Clinton Administration passed the 1994 Crime Bill.

These are just a few events that shaped that revolutionary and tumultuous decade. But I must also mention something else that marked the 90s, and that is ethnic violence and war. A genocide that we must never forget happened in the African nation of Rwanda, where the Hutu ethnic majority committed genocide against the Tutsi people. Immaculée Ilibagiza’s book Left To Tell shares a personal story of someone who survived this act of “Man’s inhumanity to man.”

If I ruled the world, imagine that
I'd free all my sons, I love 'em love 'em baby
Black diamonds and pearls
Could it be, if you could be mine we'd both shine
I ruled the world
Still livin' for today, in these last days and times

Desiring a better world is nothing new, and many people of all professions have sought to express their hopes for a changed world. The lyrics to the chorus for this song are posted above, which is where I draw the inspiration for today's title.

Hope that inspires vision.

I've wrestled with a fundamental question since the Covid-19 Pandemic: "How do we hope despite darkness and despair?" One of the ways that I've begun to answer that question is through IMAGINATION. When I say imagination, I don't mean fiction or escapism, though fiction and fantasy play a vital role in growing and stretching our imaginative abilities. I mean the ability to accurately access what is and create a vision of what could be.

Merriam-Webster-Webster defines imagination as "the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality," "creative ability," or "a creation of the mind." The work of Afrofuturist is the work of imaginative people. Works like Black Panther and Wakanda Forever are Afrofuturistic pieces that have stretched our collective imaginations of what a world untouched by colonization could have been. Writers like Octavia Butler imagined science fiction from an African American lens and expanded the genre.

Over the last couple of years, a new term entered the American lexicon— Afrotheofuturism. That’s imagination from a Black Christian (theological) perspective. One of my blog’s goals is to “Influence the Culture with the Values of the Kingdom.” I’m endeavoring to imagine and articulate a way forward. Beyond partisan divides, ecclesial bickering, and broken systems of service. To explore and enlarge our moral imagination and collective engagement from a biblical, ethnic, and placed based perspective. Like Nas and Lauren Hill, I’m seeking to create a vision for the future that is more just, more merciful, and more righteous. Unlike Nas and Lauren Hill, my perspective is rooted in applied theology. Which I think is best described in the long quotation below from Dr. Tony Evans.

Theology may be defined as learning, organizing, and communicating the truths about God as revealed in His Word. For many people the word theology suggests seminary-educated scholars who sit in ivory towers, isolated from the real world, studying the Bible. Such study is often viewed as esoteric and unrelated to the world where men and women live, work, play, raise families, and struggle with the realities of day-to-day life. Theology need not be that remote, however, and that is not God’s intent in the Scriptures. Instead, the Bible is written to real people living in a real world, facing real problems, and needing a real, practical word from God… Theology, when properly understood, ought to be challenging, inspiring, transforming, and even fun. To have the privilege of learning truth about God and seeing that truth transform our lives is the greatest pursuit in life.“ (Theology You Can Count On - Dr. Tony Evans)

“The Bible is written to real people living in a real world, facing real problems, and needing a real, practical word from God.” We need an applied theology for the issues of our day. How do we think theologically about communities, housing, poverty, crime, economic development, education, and religion? The Bible has much to say about justice, righteousness, and the everyday stuff of life. It speaks to our interpersonal relationships and our societal relationships. Most importantly, It speaks to how God relates with us and how we are to relate to Him.

This approach is not easy, but it is worth the effort.

This is a good place to stop and ponder my thoughts. In my next post, I will talk about fostering imagination through the wisdom of others.

1. Is in the Stacks: Watson Library’s collection of Afrofuturist books, Angela Washington (Jun 15, 2022) https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/6/library-afrofuturism#:~:text=Afrofuturism%20is%20a%20genre%20that,music%2C%20and%20the%20visual%20arts.