Afro Comic Con 2019
Oakland is a wonderful and weird place to make and sell art. There are so many venues and interested buyers but not that many artists of color feel comfortable or safe in ALL art venues. Lets be honest, Oakland is undergoing an major shift and previously culturally the backbone has always been Black, Black and current and setting the trends and fun and positive and uniquely ghetto fabulous. Fast forward to today and the gentrifiers are making lanes in Oakland, quite literally and figuratively. The roads are being halved for bike lanes and new construction is tearing up the sidewalks and roadways all to make room for folks that do not look like me and aren’t interested or invested in Black culture or Black people remaining in the Oakland, Eastbay/Emeryville area. That being said, Afro Comic con happens in Emeryville and Oakland yearly and in an area where pop ups and small indie art venues are the norm it’s like a gathering of long lost cousins every year as unless it’s an event exclusively marketed to and run by Black people these same folks aren’t in and out and about in the Oakland art scene. First Friday’s street festival being the exception. But why aren’t there Black festivals in our Black venues?
Like church every Sunday Oakland’s art scene is segregated along color lines and socioeconomic/class lines. It’s a seamless transition from vending in more mixed spaces to a Black comic con yet the relief and easy calm I felt should not be taken for granted or lost on it’s participants or guests. Lets make more spaces for Black and Brown people. Lets uplift each other and take up as much space as needed to celebrate each other.
All while the Public works committee meets about bike lanes and the Oakland city council hears from the Black business and arts district about how the new construction is impacting African Americans access to the businesses in the district kids and young adults go from table to table at SAE Expressions college and to panels and a film festival all affirming their Blackness and great capacity for imagination and ingenuity.
I tabled at the first Afro Comic Con 3 years ago and the event has gotten larger and truly has outgrown the space. The organizers are creating an event on a small budget and with the help of numerous volunteers. Big ups and super big Thank you to the organizers and volunteers although hectic and with a few bumps in the road they did an amazing job and everyone had smiles on their faces and lots of beautiful Black art in their hands. This event also includes some superb cosplay and activities just for younger kids like gaming and comic book making.
Shout out to the awesome cosplayers that stopped by my table.Because it’s held at a college I really love the workshops around creating literature and independent publishing and developing skills not only to draw comics but to write engaging content and how to navigate self publishing plus the politics of being a creative person of color. I truly love the chats and in depth conversations about all the ways to express ourselves through art,writing and film.
Thank you to all the folks who came by my table and brought their kids on day two for the community kids day. Lets get them started early. The arts are some of the best therapy and medicine. It’s great to see the youth film festival and the Afro comic con leaders encouraging young minds to think critically! I had a blast and always meet the coolest and most sweet attendees.
Feeling super grateful and inspired. Please come through in December for an event I am organizing in Oakland if you are an SF Bay Area resident. Here is the event page, https://www.facebook.com/events/984791398527204/
and as always I’ve included some photos here but you can find all the photos of the two day event on my flicker page here, https://www.flickr.com/photos/storm1sky/albums/72157711473080103
