ORIGINS
Black Girls are from the Future comes directly from my lived experience. Right before New Years Eve of 2009 I was in the middle of a break up and I had just moved to a new city. I told my dad, who was on the other side of the country, that I was lonely. He said that I should go back to Brooklyn, even if I had just returned from there- if I was lonely. I looked at that phone like he had lost his mind.
His rationale was that if my friends and chosen family were in Brooklyn, then I should go to Brooklyn, my lonely room in a new city would be waiting for me when I returned. He was right, so I put on my fancy silver leggings, packed a bag and headed to Brooklyn for a New Years Eve party.
When I arrived my home girl took one look at me and my shiny silver leggings and said girl, where did you come from the future? The hashtag, #Blackgirlsarefromthefuture was used first in February 2010.
BLACK GIRLS ARE FROM THE FUTURE IS A BRAND, NARRATIVE AND AN OPPOSITIONAL STANDPOINT FOR BLACK GIRLS
Black girls are from the future can be found throughout the internet, on Facebook, Tumblr, Big Cartel, Tote Bags and books.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because they were hastagging before corporations knew what a hashtag was.
You can’t sprinkle sugar on shit and call it ice cream because #Blackgirlsarefromthefuture and we see you.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because they understand that they have to create the media, and support those who are creating the media that they want to see.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because we know that a barometer of Black women’s freedom is the ability create, control, sale and disseminate our stories in mainstream and niche new media spaces.
#Blackgirlsarefromtehfuture because Moya and Lex stay using the hashtag with attribution, because politics of citation IS that Black feminist business.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because we make the shit we believe in.
#BlackGirlsarefromthefuture because they understand that Black women’s sexuality is a racialized sexuality.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because Black girls be cyborging and resisting the matrix at the same time.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because they understand that when Black women are free, everyone will be free.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because they understand that trust is the first need, and if they can’t trust they can’t heal.
#BlackGirlsarefromthefuture because they understand that the some people may not get the art that they create, but they go ahead and create it anyway.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture so they have to be clear with themselves about how much their work is worth.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture because they realize that they can’t spend all of their time responding to racism because they have work to create and money to make.
#BlacGirlsArefromTheFuture is a hashtag that the homies on twitter/tumblr have used and will continue to use I am fine with that.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture is created, owned and trademarked by Renina Jarmon and it must be used with attribution in print.
BLACK GIRLS ARE FROM THE FUTURE IS AN OPPOSITIONAL STANDPOINT
Black girls are from the future is an oppositional standpoint based on the day to day lived experiences of working class Black girls, sassy mouthed Black girls, Black girls with their hands on their hips, Black girls who make twerking look easy.
Black Girls are from the Future is a theory premised on the day to day lived experience of Black girls who are often told that they don’t have physical autonomy, that racialized street harassment doesn’t exist, that they don’t have or that they are not entitled to sexual agency, that they have to be twice as good for half the recognition, that they have to put their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, husbands and girlfriends and boyfriends first, always.
#Blackgirlsarefromthefuture is a theory that assumes that Black girls are human, quick witted, temporally advanced and fancy as fuck.
When I think about being a Black girl from the future, my mind goes to the contradiction that many Black girls and women encounter which is that we are often simultaneously hyper visible and invisible at the same time. This can be a very difficult mode of engagement in the world, because you KNOW THAT YOU EXIST even if people see you and choose NOT to recognize you.
Hence a tweet from two years ago captures this contradiction. Q: “What is thick as a brick and light as a feather? A: A Black Girl From the Future” How can a person be thick as a brick and light as a feather. How can a person time travel!?!? How does a person learn to navigate sexism and racism at a young age? They just do to survive.
BLACK GIRLS ARE FROM THE FUTURE AND THE POLITICS OF CITATION AND CONSENT
Deciding to be deliberate about Black Girls are from the Future and my ownership of it has forced me to think about how to be deliberate about the hashtag, brand, idea and story and my relationship to it.
I decided two months ago that I needed to get in front of it, and trademark it.
Getting in front of it has forced me to also think about what is my vision for this narrative/brand. What seems like many centuries ago, I wanted to be an investment banker, I know this may seem funny in the midst of this Black girl time travel talk; this also shows that I have never been short on ambition. I mention my past because my first blog focused on the notion of creating as an end, in and of it self.
Now I see myself reconciling the person who wanted to be an i banker, with the the person who creates an ad free blog. This is one hell of a contradiction and I embrace it.
As I grow, I am still deliberate about how my online work will intersect with the market, even if that intersection changes, which is to be expected. If you don’t change you are stagnant. So, my vision for my work is changing. The key difference is that I am moving into a clear entrepreneurial direction as a scholar who studies the political economy of Black women’s sexuality, who teaches feminist media studies, I also know that it is my job to determine what my value is and how my intellectual property will be used.
BGFTF IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OWNED BY RENINA JARMON
The phrase Black Girls are From the Future is a registered trademark bought, and owned by me. It is fine if it is used on the internet with attribution, in fact I Love tracking how the hashtag is used, however Black Girls Are From The Future cannot be used in print form or to promote an event online or offline without my consent.
#BlackgirlsarefromtheFuture so they get real clear about they work.
You can contact me using the form below, or you can e-mail me at reninajarmon@gmail.com.
